1 

; 




TRAVELS 

IN 

EGYPT AND SYRIA 



S. S. HILL, ERG.S. 

AUTHOR OF ^TRAVELS IN SIBERIA ' ETC, 



LONDON : 

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

1866, 



PREFACE. 



The title of this book may not be attractive to every 
reader of Travels, for the countries visited have in these 
days been brought within such easy reach, that they have 
lost the charm of strangeness. Then interest, however, 
they can never lose, and their history must always form 
the most wonderful chapter in the records of the world. 

Not the least wonderful fact in that history, is one 
which confronts the traveller at every point. It is a 
constant source of sadness and surprise to him, that 
scenes hallowed by the Saviour's footsteps should now 
be possessed by the followers of the false Prophet. By 
the Christian traveller, and the Mahometan inhabitant, 
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, must therefore be 
viewed with very different feelings. But charity and not 
contempt should be predominant in the minds of both> 
and especially should it be displayed by the disciples of 
Him whose life and death enforced this highest of all 
virtues. 

The Mussulman adheres to the teaching of the Koran 
with a fidelity which commands respect ; and those who 
are brought in contact with him, either personally or 



vi 



PREFACE, 



through the medium of books, cannot fail to see much in 
his character to esteem, and even to admire. 

One thing is very easy for the writer to promise, and 
that is, that nothing will be found in this volume which 
does not proceed from his own reflections, uninfluenced 
by anything that has engaged the attention of others ; 
and the title-page will have informed the reader that the 
impressions received during these travels have been 
made upon one who has visited many parts of the earth, 
and is fully sensible of the happy condition we enjoy in 
Europe, and especially in our own isle, compared with 
that which is the lot of people spread over so wide a 
portion of the globe as the Mussulmans, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 

The Port — The Plague — The moving Scene on Shore — The European 
Quarter . . 

CHAPTER II. 

THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA. 

Tour on Donkeys — Desolate Scenes — The Monument called Pompey's 
Pillar — The Dogs — The Monuments called Cleopatra's Needles — 
The poorer Class among the Ruins of the ancient Town — The 
Catacombs — The Forts . . 



CHAPTER III. 

CAIRO. 

Population — Kindness of the Consul — Character of the Egyptians — 
Effects of the Government — The Streets — The Houses — A Coffee- 
house — The Arabian Nights' Entertainments — The Shops — The 
Tradesmen — Ladies in the Streets . , . . 

CHAPTER IV. 

Cairo — continued. 

A Dinner at the Hotel — Strange Company — Christian Quarter — Copts 
— The Gardens within the Walls of Cairo — Search for Lodgings 
among the Copts — Pleasant Accident .... 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 
cairo — continued. 

PAGE 

Horses — Dragoman — Size — Janizary — Manner of Riding — Visit to 
Shubra — Ceremony of admitting the Waters of the Nile to Cairo 
— The Fertilising Qualities of the Deposit left by the Nile Water 
— Citadel of Cairo — Ali Pasha's Tomb — View from the Citadel 
— Beasts of Burden . . . . . .32 

CHAPTER VI. 

CAIRO. 

Noisy Neighbours — The Flies — Mosquitoes — Sparrows — Difficulty of 
passing a Mussulman Lady in a narrow Way — Purchase of Tche- 
books — The Tobacco of Egypt — The Ladies' Dresses — Difficulty 
of making Purchases — Walking in the Streets alone — The Ar- 
rangements for the Dogs — Quarrels in the Streets . .45 

CHAPTER VII, 
cairo — continued. 

A Lady from Tunis on her Pilgrimage to Mecca — Sad Condition of the 
Mussulman Women — The British Consul's Encampment in the 
Desert — Heliopolis — Isle of Rhoda — The Nileometer — Ladies 
Riding ........ 58 

CHAPTER VIII. 

cairo — continued. 

Medical Institution — Military Hospital — The ancient Fortress of 
Babylon — Coptic Churches — Great Poverty — Pleasantries — 
Printing Establishment — Taxes upon Dragomans and Cooks . 65 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE PYRAMIDS OF EL-GHIZEH. 

Pass the River with Donkeys — The Coimtry — The Approach to the 
Pyramids — The Dimensions of the Grandest — Ascent — A Tra- 
veller's Impressions — Chamber in the Interior — Bats . . 73 



CONTENTS. 



ix 



CHAPTER X. 
Cairo — continued. 

PAGE 

My Dragoman's Distress — Causes — 111 Conduct of a Bey and the 
Pasha — The Rite of Circumcision — Procession of a Young Lady 
before Marriage — Also the Gentleman — An ordinary Funeral . 79 

CHAPTER XI. 
Cairo — continued. 

• Establishment for Insane Persons — The Difficulty of entering a Court 
of Justice in Cairo — Authorised Feast of Cats — A Mussulman 
and his Three Wives . . . . . .80 

CHAPTER XII. 
cair o — continued. 

Conversations with a Mussulman — His Defence of the Treatment of 
the "Women — His Opinion of the Gospel and the Koran — His 
Impressions concerning the Romanists — His Objection to our 
Manner of eating Animals in England . . . 90 

CHAPTER Xni. 
Cairo — continued. 

Mahometan Saints — The Ramadan— The Bad Food in Egypt — The 

Bread — An English Episcopal School .... 105 

CHAPTER XIY. 

cairo — continued. 

Second Interview with the Mussulman Gentleman and Conversation 

upon the Mahometan and Christian Religion . . .113 

CHAPTER XV. 

cairo — continued. 

Measurement of Time — Calls from the Minarets of the Mosques — 
Papers read before the Members of the Egyptian Society — The 
Father of History's Reports — Other Papers read — Slaves at the 
Gates — Information obtained from a Negro . . . 120 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Cairo — continued. 

PAGE 

Petrified Trees in the Desert— Tombs of the Memlook Kings — A Der- 

vise Fortune-teller . . . . . . .127 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Cairo — continued. 

A Mosque dedicated to a Relative of Mahomet — Causes of the Un- 
fruitfulness of the Mussulman Women — Visit to the Coptic 
Church — Number of Copts in Egypt — Their Manner of Worship 
—The Israelites . . . . . . ,134 

CHAPTER XVHL 
Cairo — continued. 

Walk among the Tombs beyond the Walls of Cairo — Alarming 
Signs — Application for Aid to search around — Mussulman Super- 
stitions — The Thoughts that occurred to me — The Four distinct 
Sects of Mahometans buried here — Discovery of a Mourner . 139 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Cairo — continued. 

The Franks — Slave Market — Dragoman's Advice to Marry — His 
Reasons for this Advice— Remarks upon the Slave-trade in the 
East and the West — Cruelties on the Boys upon the Nile — 
Abyssinian Girls — Humanity of the Moslems— Cruelty of Greek 
Women . . . . . . . 150 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE RIVER NILE. 

Preparations for Navigating the River — Plan of the Boats — Compari- 
son between the Nile and the St. Lawrence — Our Departure — A 
Gay Vessel descending . . > . . . . 162 

CHAPTER XXI. 
the river nile — continued. 



The Wind fails us — Moor off Memphis — Land — The Statue of Rameses 
— The Grottoes or Catacombs of Beni Hassan — A French Medi- 
cal Man — The Crimes sanctioned in Egypt — A Crocodile . 168 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



CHAPTER XXII. 
the river nile — continued, 

PAGE 

The Village Kaon-el-Rebirs — The Inundations prevailing here — 
Admiration of our Pocket Telescope — Warning of an Arab — 
Village of Celaouist — Improvements in the Nile Scenery — The 
Cheerfulness of the Women — Conduct of Soldiers . . 173 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

the river nile — continued. 

Arrive at Siout — Denderah — The remarkable Temple — Knoft — The 
Governor of the Town — His Behaviour — Young Crocodiles — 
Depredations of the Species — Moored by the River — A Party of 
Dancing Girls— The Moonlight . . . . .182 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

the river nile — continued. 

The Ruins at Thebes — The Caverns and Tombs of the Kings — Temple 
of Hagar Sibrili — Temple of Ombus — The Last Village in Egypt 
—The Isle of Elephantine— The Cataract— The Isle of Philoe . 189 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Cairo — continued. 

A Dragoman Educated in Europe — A Judge — The Judge's Politeness 
— An Egyptian Trial — The Judge's Opinion of Napoleon I. — The 
Independence of our Country — The Appearance of the Prisoner 
— His Defence — The Judgment — My Departure . . . 198 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Cairo — continued. 

A Literary Society — The Tchebooks — Coffee — Conversation — Concern- 
ing a Present sent to the Pasha — An Egyptian's Opinion of the 
Europeans . . . . . . . . 212 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 

PAGE 

Our First Night in the Desert — Appearance of a Comet— The Cries of 
the Jackal — A Party of Pilgrims — The Treatment of the Camels 
— The Locusts— Encamp near Suez — Examination of the reported 
Pass of the Jews — Departure for Mount Sinai — Pilgrims — Hiero- 
glyphics inscribed — A remarkable Track of Ants — A Burial 
Ground — Arrival at the Convent at the Foot of Mount Sinai — 
Inspection of Tombs — A Maniac — Ascent of Jebel Musa — Ascent 
of Mount St. Katherine . . . . . . 218 

CHAPTER XXVHI. 

JOURNEY FROM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 

A Sandy Plain — High Land — Pleasantry of the Arabs — More Vege- 
tation — Birds — Remarkable Ruins — Bedouins with their Flocks 
and Herds — First settled Inhabitants of the Holy Land — Sheykh 
of Daccarheer ....... 230 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 

Fruitful Country — First View of the Holy City — Gate of Bethlehem 
— Encamp in the Gardens of the Lazaretto — Removal to our 
Consul's Garden ....... 240 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Jerusalem — continued. 

Different kinds of Visitors at Jerusalem— First Visit to the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre — Unaffected Devotions of the Pilgrims — 
Principal Chapels — Examination of some Opinions prevalent . 246 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

MOUNT OF OLIVES. 

The Via Dolorosa — Pool of Bethesda— Reported Tomb of the Virgin 
—Garden of Gethsemane — View from the Mount — Church of 
the Ascension — The Brook of Kedron .... 254 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
Jerusalem — continued. 

PAGM 

Ceremonies in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in commemoration 

of the Crucifixion of our Saviour . . , . 263 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Jerusalem-— continued. 

Valley of Jehoshaphat— King David's Criminal Amour — Sepulchre 
of Samuel at Ramah — The Mosque — The Minaret — Tombs of 
the Judges and the Kings-— Lazarus's reported Burial-place . 270 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF A TOUR, COMPREHENDING HEBRON, THE DEAD SEA, 
AND RIVER JORDAN. 

Error in the Arrangements for our Departure — Arrival at Hebron— 
The Israelites — Their Hospitality- — Some Opinions of the 
Author of Christianity . 278 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



HEBRON. 



Tombs of the Patriarchs — The famous Tree — Meeting with our 
Friends— Their Adventures — Attack upon our Servants — Account 
of the Hall of Justice — Delays — Arrival of our Fellow-travellers 
—A new Light thrown upon our Dispute— The Conduct of our 
Friends the Jews — Our firm Refusal of their Propositions — ■ 
Offer given us to view the Tombs of the Patriarchs — Result of 
the Affair 285 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

JOURNEY TO THE DEAD SEA. 

Rocky Mountains— Marks of Convulsions of Nature — Encamp for the 
Night — Views from the Hills — Descents towards the Sea— 
Bathing — Water very cold and buoyant — Road to the Convent of 
St. Saba— Alarm of the Monks— Our Admission . . . 299 



xiv 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CONVENT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JORDAN. 

PAGE 

Relics of Monks murdered — Muleteers' Terrors of the Bedouins — Road 
towards the Jordan— The Remarkable River— Caution of the 
Arabs — Bathe in the Jordan — The Fountain of Elisha— Adven- 
ture of one of the Horses — The Robbery committed by the 
Bedouins , . . . . . .307 

CHAPTER XXXVHI. 

BETHLEHEM AND THE' POOLS OF SOLOMON, 

Christian Women on the Road — -View of Bethlehem — The Descent to 
the supposed Place of the Nativity — A Fancy Artist — The Pools 
of Solomon — Adventure with a Negro — My Companions' Depar- 
ture . . . ... . ; .sir 

CHAPTER XXXIX, 

DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 

New Companions— Impressions upon leaving the Holy City — Face of 
the Country — One of the Muleteers meeting his Young Wife 
—His Offer to sell Her . . . . . ,330 

CHAPTER XL. 

NABLUS, 

Fruitful Country — Nabliis — Manuscripts in possession of the Sama- 
ritans — Dissatisfaction after seeing a part of the Manuscripts , 336 

CHAPTER XLX 

JOURNEY TOWARDS NAZARETH. 

A Bedouin Chief— A Troop of Belligerents — Their Intentions- 
Improvement in the State of the Country , . . 344 

CHAPTER XLIL 

NAZARETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE 9 

A Traveller's Impressions here compared with those at Jerusalem 
and Bethlehem — Reflections concerning our Saviour — The Lady 
of our Party supposed to be a Boy disguised— Kindness of the 
Monks— A Visit from the Superior of the Latin Convent— Sea of 
Galilee — Tiberias — Fishermen . . 349 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



CHAPTER XLIIL 

RETURN TO NAZARETH AND JOURNEY TO BEYROUT. 

PAGE 

Fine Country — Different Route — Mount Tabor — Mount Carmel — The 
Convent — Supper — The Monks had feared an Attack from the 
English when before Acre — Arrive at Beyrout ... . 859 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

JOURNEY TO THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 

An agreeable Village — The Mountains — -Curiosity of the People — Two 

agreeable Christian Maronite Families . , , 866 

CHAPTER XLV, 

SECOND VISIT TO THE MARONITE FAMILY. 

Mirth among the Party — Examination of Lady L.— Attack upon My- 
self on account of my Celibacy — Remarks upon the Syrian 
Women — The Horns they wear — Return to our Encampment — - 
Visit from the Maronite Ladies — Joy of one especially at finding 
we were Christians . . . . . ,373 

CHAPTER XLVL 

TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 

The Emir Beshir's Palace — Turkish Soldiers — A Major's Drawing— 
The Colonel commanding — Agreeable Conversation — -The Apart- 
ments of the Emir ...... 380 

CHAPTER XLVTI. 

travels in the Lebanon.— ^continued. 

A Younger Branch of the Emir's Family— The Lebanon Princess' 
Curiosity — Comparison between the Two Ladies — The Lebanon 
Prince's Politeness — A warm Adieu .... 391 

CHAPTER XLVTII. 

JOURNEY TOWARDS DAMASCUS. 

Christian Peasantry — The Anti-Lebanon— A Dreary Country— View 

of Damascus ....... 400 



xvi 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

DAMASCUS. 

TAGE 

The Christian Quarter — Difficulty about the Lady — The Bazaar— The 
Grand Mosque — Caravans between Damascus and Bagdad — 
Ladies in the Bazaar — Manner of Mussulmans passing the Time . 405 

CHAPTER L. 

d am asc us — continued. 

The Gardens— House of the Bagdad Merchant — Christian Ladies — 

The Interior— Conversation with the Ladies— The Monks . 413 



CHAPTER LI. 

BALBEC. 

Village of Seedge— A Polite Sheykh — View of Balbec from the Anti- 
Lebanon— A grand Temple — The Ruins by Moonlight — Visit to 
the Emir of the District — -A Maronite Bishop . . . 424 

CHAPTER LIL 

THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 

The Snow — The View from the Summit — First View of famous Grove 

of Cedars— Encamp among the Cedars— Monks . . , 433 

CHAPTER LIII. 

DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 

Difficult Travelling— A Convent — Village of Eden — Invitation from 
the Governor of the District — The Palace — Visit from the 
Governor — Some Tricks of Boys — The Governor's Hospitality . 440 

CHAPTER LIV 

JOURNEY TO BEYROUT, 

The Condition of the Country — Tripoli — Remains of an Ancient 

Town— Armed Parties — Views — Conclusion . . , 450 



TRAVELS 



IN 

EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 

The Port — The Plague — The moving Scene on Shore— 
The European Quarter. 

I left the island of Syra on the coast of Greece early 
in the month of June, and on the second day after 
sailing we came in sight of the desert landscape on 
that part of the coast of Egypt where the city of 
Alexandria is seated. As the elevated ground beyond 
the city came under our view, the first object that could 
be distinctly perceived was the remarkable column well 
known by the appellation of Pompey's pillar ; but as we 
approached the land, some white edifices skirting the 
front of the town, and a line of forts commanding two 
harbours which are formed by a promontory that divides 
the bay, rose gradually from the water, with one only 
still standing, of the two remarkable monuments which 
are at the present time commonly known by the name of 
Cleopatra's needles. 

It was for a short time doubted whether we could 
anchor within the harbour before sunset ; and, as vessels 
are not permitted to enter after the setting, our failure 

B 



2 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



would have subjected us to twelve hours' delay. We 
accomplished our wishes, however, and anchored in the 
midst of a fleet of Egyptian ships of war, and some 
twenty or thirty merchant vessels from the several nations 
that were trading with this country. 

We had heard of the breaking out of the plague at 
Alexandria before quitting Syra, which made us the more 
anxious to learn the present condition of the town in this 
particular, and we were gratified at hearing from the 
pilot who had boarded us, that the frightful scourge had 
not here assumed a character sufficiently violent to 
render it necessary to confine any of the inhabitants 
within their dwellings, except only such as had been in 
direct communication with fatal cases, and that the 
deaths, which had not exceeded five a day, were at this 
time reduced to three. 

Our anchor had been hardly down before we were hailed 
by the quarantine officer, who, after being answered, 
came on board ; but as his real business was no other 
than harassing the Syrian vessels by condemning them to 
quarantine, in order to obstruct as much as possible the 
intercourse between Egypt and the Sultan's more proper 
dominions, we found no difficulty in obtaining immediate 
permission to land. 

Boats that had waited at a little distance from our 
vessel's side for permission to board, were now waved 
to approach ; and, two handsomely-dressed Egyptians 
mounted the ship's side, and presented themselves as 
dragomans or guides to an Italian gentleman and myself, 
who were the only passengers on board ; and, as soon as 
we had engaged their temporary services, we took leave 
of the packet and were rowed speedily towards the 
shore. 

Following the advice of our captain, we gave orders 



ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 



3 



"that we should be conveyed to a certain European 
hotel which is not frequented by the scampering English 
travellers who arrive once a month, and proceed with the 
India mails. 

The sun had hardly set when we touched the Egyptian 
shore, and as soon as we jumped upon the quay, we hired 
donkeys for ourselves and our dragomans, and a camel 
to carry our baggage. As we rode through the crowds 
of people about us, we observed that our guides were fre- 
quently interrogated by the better dressed among the men, 
and we were curious to know what questions were asked, 
but we did not learn that they exceeded a few enquiries 
concerning our rank, upon which subject we were asked 
no questions by our guides, but which we afterwards 
learned they had taken care to inform every one, was at 
least that of Pashas in Egypt ; but, that we did not 
receive any particular mark of respect, I was not long 
in the country without knowing how to attribute to the 
constant, but too well understood practice of the Egyp- 
tians employed by Europeans, of placing the rank of those 
whom they serve as high as they think may be credited 
by any of their countrymen with whom they are in any 
way brought in contact. 

As far as the quay extended, there was nothing that 
differed much from the quays in towns of equal com- 
mercial importance in Europe save the moving scene ; 
but a more remarkable spectacle to a stranger than this 
exhibits, it is not easy to conceive. Egyptian Arabs of 
the bourgeois class, seamen from the eastern and western 
ports, working men in their Arab costume, mingled with 
Turks and Greeks, with strings of camels and many 
donkeys, were all at the same time under view ; and, it was 
not until we entered the narrow ways within the town, 

B 2 



4 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



that we saw distinctly the features that characterise the* 
Egyptian people. 

The first street we threaded was ankle-deep in dry dirt, 
and rubbish from the decayed houses. Not half, indeed, 
of the houses that had been formerly in this street were 
now standing, and these afforded little relief to the gloomy 
scene. None had any windows upon the ground floor, 
and few, more than a single window projecting from 
above, the sides of which were close latticed, while the 
fronts were boarded, and could not have admitted any 
direct light. 

As we proceeded, we came to a short street with shops 
and stalls. Here the way was obstructed by some men 
and old women seated upon the ground. The women 
wore only a loose blue shirt, leaving their bosoms gener- 
ally bare, though their faces were concealed, except the 
eyes, by the well-known veil of the country. They 
were selling cucumbers, oranges, dates, and other fruits, 
while the larger capitalists of the other sex were vending 
the pastuke, which was laid out in such quantities as to 
inconvenience the passengers. Thus, as we had been 
cautioned to avoid touching any one on our way to the 
European quarter of the town, it was not easy to effect 
a passage without one of the dragomans preceding us 
upon his donkey, with a calabash in hand, of which he 
made free use. 

The houses in this quarter are built, some of mud, and 
some of unhewn stone of a dusky red colour ; and in 
some cases they have just enough remaining of the stucco 
with which they had been plastered, to perfect the de- 
plorable picture of wretchedness and ruin. 

It was near the close of the short Egyptian twilight 
when we issued from among the gloomy habitations of 
the people of Alexandria, to come directly upon the 



ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 



European quarter of the town. Here we found an open 
oblong place, such as would not discredit any country in 
Christendom. The houses are here regularly built, and 
many are of hewn stone, and spacious, and they are 
generally occupied by European merchants and foreign 
consuls. Here we entered a house which had been re- 
commended by the captain of the packet, and which was 
kept by a Frenchman. 



6 



CHAPTEE XL 

THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA. 

Tour on Donkeys — Desolate Scenes — The Monument called Pompey's 
Pillar — The Dogs — The Monuments called Cleopatra's Needles — The 
poorer Class among the Ruins of the ancient Town — The Catacombs — The 
Forts. 

My travelling companion and myself, rose at an early 
hour on the day after our arrival at Alexandria ; and 
having taken coffee, after the French mode, to enable us 
to wait without inconvenience for a more substantial 
breakfast, we left the hotel to make a first tour, under the 
advantages of the cool air which even the southern night 
engenders. Advised by our guides, we hired donkeys, 
and took the direct way towards the well-known column 
already mentioned, which is the most remarkable monu- 
ment that Alexandria possesses of her former position 
among the famous cities of the world. 

Leaving the great open place at the opposite end to 
that at which we had entered on the preceding evening, 
we passed immediately beyond the regenerate portion of 
the town to the first scene which recalls what has been 
long impressed upon all our memories concerning the 
unmatched vicissitudes of this memorable city — of that 
Alexandria so remarkable as the long depository of the 
intellectual remains that survived the devastations of the 
conquerors of the world, the fanaticism of the Saracens, 
and the general barbarism which prevailed during the 



THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA. 



7 



Middle Ages. We were now, perhaps, riding over the 
spot upon which once stood, and beneath which might 
now lie in ruins, the very edifice within the walls of 
which slept many of those works to which we owe the 
revival of learning. Pits, excavations, rubbish, and piles 
of hewn stones, with here and there portions of broken 
columns, which appeared to be the remnants of towers 
and walls, cover a vast waste of ground, from which the 
materials are at this day drawn to adapt the site of the 
city of the Ptolemies to the habits of the growing popula- 
tion, among whom are mixed many Europeans. 

If it be true, indeed, that Alexandria had no other 
rival in wealth and the works of art in any city of 
antiquity save Athens, and if she had really the number of 
palaces reported, besides numerous public buildings, apart 
from the dwellings of her commercial and her meaner 
population, at the time of the Saracen conquest, we may 
yet expect the recovery of further aids to antiquarian 
knowledge. The ashes of Vesuvius were scarcely more 
destructive to Pompeii than the sands of the desert have 
been to this once magnificent city, which was probably 
not long depopulated before the greater portion of its 
edifices were buried beneath the drifting sand, with the 
accumulating rubbish of the deserted and fallen edifices. 

Before we reached the gate of the city we must have 
passed over a mile of this desolate scene, relieved only 
from absolute desolation by some groves of palm-trees, 
and a few hovels into which some women and children 
fled and hid themselves as we approached. 

The more durable and remarkable of the only two 
ancient monuments now entire we found standing upon a 
mount at a distance of a few hundred paces from the gate 
of the modern wall of Alexandria, which opens upon the 
sterile and desert country, forming the narrow isthmus 



8 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



between the sea and the lake Mareotis. Ponipey's Pillar, 
as it is well known this column has been called, it is at 
least agreed by many learned travellers in Egypt since 
the accomplished Denon, has looked down upon all the 
changes that the memorable seat of the arts, of learning, 
and of commerce has through so many ages undergone, 
from the time of the Emperor Diocletian, in honour of 
whom it is said to have been erected, to the present day. 
By the European traveller, to whom the desert is new, 
the monument is contemplated in unison with those im- 
pressions of awe with which the desolation of the ab- 
solute desert inspires us. No other object of human 
workmanship meets the eye near this column ; nothing 
to raise in the mind a comparison between the works of 
various nations long since passed away. There were 
some dogs sitting upon mounts of gravel and sand, 
and even these were so like in colour to the soil upon 
which they trod, that they were hardly distinguishable 
until disturbed by our approach, and they fled, barking 
or howling, whenever we made any attempt to get within 
a stone's throw of them. 

From the foot of this great column, well known from 
innumerable drawings, we gave directions that we should 
be conducted to the other standing monument, which is 
one of the two obelisks already mentioned, and mis- 
named, like their sister work of art, Cleopatra's Needles. 
Having recrossed the desolate wastes, we reached this 
obelisk, standing a little in the rear of the batteries 
which command the eastern harbour of Alexandria. It 
is about sixty-five feet in height, and has its sister column 
lying on the ground beside it. These columns have 
given rise to several conjectures among the learned, of 
which perhaps the most agreeable to contemplate is, that 
they were both brought from Memphis, and that they 



THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA. 



9 



here adorned the palace of the Ptolemies. They are of 
Thebaic stone, and are covered with hieroglyphics. 

Before we left this monument, my companion made 
some remarks not unsuitable to the occasion. 4 1 have 
seen,' said he, e an Egyptian obelisk at Borne, where it 
is strangely placed in front of the Duomo of the Chris- 
tian world; and I have seen the same thing at Paris, 
which the French, with somewhat better taste, have set 
up in the Place de la Concorde ; and you doubtless have 
another, of which you may have made an appropriate 
use. They are, at least, moral records which should teach 
the nations humility.' 

The immediate vicinity of this uncertain symbol of what 
has been, presents a living scene which, as the first the 
traveller will contemplate of Egyptian wretchedness, will 
long remain engraven on his memory. The people, how- 
ever, of this quarter are neither the proper inhabitants, 
nor are they permanently fixed, in Alexandria ; for they 
consist, for the most part, of the families of soldiers in the 
service of the Pasha. They are located among the ruins 
of the ancient town, and though within the walls, they 
are yet at a distance apart from both the European and 
the native quarters. They are, however, familiar with 
the European travellers, on account of their situation ; 
and we did not appear to excite among them the same 
fears which seemed to possess some of the more wretched 
of the people we had before seen. Many of the children, 
on the contrary, came up to us, and we heard from them 
for the first time the word bucksheesh, which became 
afterwards as familiar to our ears, and it is precisely of 
the same meaning as the nix mongare, which is the 
Italian of the more wretched part of the islanders of 
Malta for nothing to eat. 

We rode slowly along a pathway which passed near 



10 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYKIA. 



some of the dwellings of these people, in order that 
we might the better see what these were like. They 
consist of walls constructed of unbaked bricks made 
of mud and chopped straw. Some are roofless, and 
others are merely covered with sticks and palm-leaves. 
Several of the fair sex came out of their hovels, and many 
of the children at their bidding solicited charity by the 
use of the word above mentioned. The women were of 
all ages, from fourteen or fifteen (at which they are full 
grown) to forty or fifty ; this we had no difficulty in 
perceiving, as their loose blue shirts, open at the bosom, 
and the veil covering their faces, formed their entire 
dress ; but we saw few men that were not decrepit or 
blind. We were here accompanied, indeed, by an old 
man who had a long white beard and carried a staff, and 
we made all the use we could of some little authority 
he seemed to possess, and had placed at our service, 
to try to obtain admission into one of the hovels. He 
was not, however, able to find one in which there was 
no daughter of Egypt, whose presence, whether infirm 
with age or blooming with youth, was equally sufficient 
to bar our entrance, even though we may have seen the 
same without doors. 

The second morning after our arrival in Egypt we 
visited the catacombs of Alexandria, which are almost as 
familiar in name, notwithstanding the little that is known 
concerning their origin, as the monuments above ground 
which we had the day before visited. An old Arab who 
keeps the door of these gloomy vaults furnished us with 
torches, and, after entering through an arched roof, we ex- 
plored several chambers excavated in the solid rock. 
Some of them were so full of sand and rubbish that 
we had to creep into them with the fights, upon our 
hands and knees, and we were half smothered before we 



THE TOWN OF ALEXANDEIA, 



11 



returned. In those that were the more easily entered 
are found recesses in the ' sides where the ashes of the 
dead may have once reposed. But these were too firmly 
closed to admit any one to penetrate, and the prevailing 
feeling with travellers will probably be, surprise that no 
effort should have been made to clear them out, in the 
hope of discovering some key to the true purpose of the 
whole of the caverns. 

The same day we made such a survey of the forts of 
Alexandria, as might, without the advantages of a mili- 
tary eye, convey some idea of their strength, which ap- 
peared to us to be formidable. 

The population of Alexandria is said to be 60,000, of 
very mixed character, composed chiefly of Arabs, Turks, 
Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Copts, and a few French and 
English. 

Satisfied with what we had seen of the chief objects of 
interest here, we determined upon proceeding to the 
capital of Egypt, where it w r as our intention to remain 
until the rising of the Nile, and the approach of the 
cooler season should admit of our undertaking the voyage 
into Upper Egypt with the greatest advantage. Steam 
had already broken the solitude of the desert through 
which the £ father of waters' here flows, and mingled the 
last of European wonders with the scenes of man's earliest 
efforts to advance from the wild to the refined state of 
society ; we were therefore transported to Cairo, which 
is about 112 miles above Alexandria, and at five miles 
above the apex of Delta, with the same facility that 
is experienced in passing from one town to another in 
Europe, and we took apartments for the present in a 
house chiefly inhabited by resident Europeans. 



12 



CHAPTEE XH. 

CAIRO. 

Population— Kindness of the Consul— Character of the Egyptians— Effects 
of the Government — The Streets— The Houses— A Coffee-house — The 
Arabian Nights' Entertainments — The Shops— The Tradesmen— Ladies in 
the Streets. 

A European in Cairo will naturally be first led to con- 
sider the amount of respect due to the capital city on 
account of its antiquity, and the changes it has under- 
gone ; he will then regard the character of its present 
inhabitants, and the position which they maintain in a 
moral as well as political sense, in their relations to the 
inhabitants of the world in general ; we shall not therefore 
be transgressing the limits within which it is intended to 
keep these remarks, if we first recur very concisely to this 
general view of the famous city. 

Cairo, or Must, as it is called by its inhabitants at the 
present day, was built in the tenth century of the Chris- 
tian era and called El Kahira, 6 the victorious,' from which 
is doubtless derived the name by which it is at present 
known to Europeans. It has been at all times enriched 
by its commercial intercourse with Europe and Asia ; and 
its present resident population is estimated by Mr. Lane, 
the most accurate observer of such signs as can alone 
lead to any knowledge on this subject, at about 240,000 
souls, of whom about 190,000 are Mahometans, about 
60,000 Copts (who are the descendants of the more 
ancient Christian inhabitants of the country), and from 



CAIRO. 



13 



between three and four thousand Israelites ; but, after a 
few observations made in Cairo, it is easy to perceive 
that the town has at no very distant period contained 
many more inhabitants than at the present day. 

My first step after arriving in the capital of Egypt was 
to call on Her Majesty's consul, who kindly instructed his 
most intelligent janizary to find me a permanent drago- 
man. This was not, however, the business of an hour. 
In the meantime, my fellow-traveller and myself engaged 
a temporary servant, who spoke French, and under his 
guidance we made the first imperfect survey of some of 
the principal thoroughfares of the city, of the character 
of which, and the impression which they made upon us, 
I shall endeavour to give some account. 

If the difference between civilisation and barbarism 
consisted chiefly in the forms of the houses in which men 
reside and the vestures which they wear — if knowledge 
and freedom, and ignorance and tyranny, only influenced 
what is visible or tangible, or capable of statistical cal- 
culation, a few paintings and a few arithmetical figures 
would not only more truly describe a people than the 
imperfect impressions of a traveller, but would be all- 
sufficient for whatever the most ardent lover of progress 
could desire. But — if Egypt has a form that may be re- 
presented on canvass or figured in arithmetical numbers 
— she has a spirit, an intellect, concerning which, every 
endeavour to throw any fight, is at least an en- 
deavour to aid the efforts of men In search of the 
means of ameliorating the condition of the less happy 
part of our fellow-beings. With this impression, then, 
though no more than that of a mere traveller, I shall 
not hesitate to notice any little incidents that may occur, 
however trifling in themselves, whenever they may 
appear to be characteristic of men under the influence of 



14 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



institutions which exhibit the human species in a different 
aspect from that in which they are commonly beheld in 
Europe. The modern Egyptians are without instruction. 
They know not the steps that lead to what we term civi- 
lisation. Just knowledge we believe will some day cover 
the earth, and produce the legitimate heirs of civilisa- 
tion. But to expect that the condition of that portion 
of mankind who remain still in the darkness of the earlier 
ages of the world may be ameliorated, or that the insti- 
tutions of civilised Europe, which are the result of the 
accumulated knowledge of ages and the introduction of 
the matured sciences, could arise before knowledge is 
widely spread, would be like believing that we could 
have had a Newton without a Bacon, or that we could 
have had a bill of rights without a magna charta. The 
Alfred or Numa of modern Egypt is not yet born, nor 
the just steps to progress yet conceived. 

The effects of the government of the late rulers in 
Egypt have been such as arise from ambition and 
avarice, the consequences of which have been depo- 
pulation, increase of poverty, corruption of the sources of 
justice, and other ills, by no means counterbalanced by 
the introduction of some European arts, which has been 
a step as opposite to the interests of the country, which is 
designed by nature to be agricultural, as tyranny and 
injustice to political or moral progress. 

The temporary servant whom my friend and myself had 
engaged had disappeared for a short time after receiving 
notice to be prepared to accompany us upon a little tour 
in the streets of the town, and he reappeared trans- 
formed, at least as far as the ' trappings and suits ' of 
dignity can transform, from a humble menial to a proper 
dragoman. In place of the simple Arab blue shirt, red 
girdle, short drawers, and dirty, once white, turban, he was 



CAIKO. 



15 



now dressed in Turkish full white muslin drawers, girded 
at the waist with an amply figured shawl, a red and white 
embroidered vest with sleeves, white stockings, red 
morocco shoes, and a rich blue tasseled red turban, with 
a sword hung by his side and a brace of huge pistols 
stuck in his girdle. 

We had heard, upon good authority, that there was no 
probability, while we were accompanied by a servant 
dressed in this manner, of our receiving any kind of 
insult in the streets, we therefore took no pains to pre- 
vent our guide retaining this warlike appearance; but, 
mounting donkeys, we proceeded under his good escort 
to make a first cursory survey of the leading streets of 
the Egyptian capital. 

The streets of Cairo are usually either almost without a 
passenger, or else crowded to excess. None have any 
sort of pavement ; but the want of this is scarcely felt 
even by Europeans, for rain is very rare indeed, and the 
streets are commonly too close, by reason of the projec- 
tion of the superstructures of the houses, and the frequent 
obstruction of gates, to admit of the wind raising the 
dust; while, instead of carriage-wheels to tear up the 
broader ways, nothing but the measured step of the Arab, 
the broad foot of the camel, the unshod hoof of the walk- 
ing horse, and the lighter tread of the ambling donkey, 
press the ground. Streets that are much frequented are 
often not above fourteen or fifteen feet in width, and a 
great portion of them do not exceed eight or ten feet. 
The houses are usually two or three stories in height, and 
in many streets they have gates which open upon courts, 
and there are no windows within the courts or in the 
street upon the ground floor. In some streets the projec- 
tions with windows forming the upper stories of the 



16 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



houses bring the third story of opposite houses so near 
together, that in many cases portions pass beyond each 
other, as if the buildings were dovetailed at the top, 
and thus the light is much obstructed. Neither the foot- 
passengers nor the camel and donkey-riders in Cairo are 
always able to avoid these alleys, as they should more 
properly be termed, and it is not uncommon to find the 
steps of a beast of burden suddenly arrested by his load 
striking against the walls of the houses on both sides, 
while, hi the meantime, if any foot-passengers or donkeys 
should be passing by, they must wait, or pass beneath 
the projecting portions of the arrested loads. But to 
counterbalance these inconveniences, there is, at least, 
always this advantage during the warmer season, that the 
streets are cool at all hours of the day. 

All the houses except the very meanest in Cairo have 
the ground story constructed of, or externally cased with, 
a calcareous stone, which is easily cut and worked while 
new, and becomes hard after long exposure to the air, and 
this stone is found everywhere in Egypt within a short 
distance from the Nile. 

The superstructures of the houses are usually formed 
of unburned bricks plastered with mud and chopped straw, 
which renders them all of the same colour, which is that 
of the ground of the desert, or a little darker. But in 
the streets where the better sorts of houses are found, 
their fronts are sometimes constructed in alternate layers 
of red rocks and white rocks, so that the colours remain 
as long as the walls endure. 

With this exception, there is no departure from the 
constant desert colour which so well accords with the 
general decay. But the contrast between the lives of the 
first inhabitants of these gloomy remains of former splen- 
dour, and the lives of the living inhabitants of Cairo, 



CAIRO. 



17 



cannot fail to impress the stranger strongly with the 
temporary character of everything in this imperfect 
world. 

The streets of the commercial and more populous 
quarters of Cairo present a great contrast to those above 
described. The width of these is generally sufficient to 
allow loaded camels — which, from the quantity of goods 
with which they are charged, generally occupy more space 
than vehicles of any kind — to pass to and fro without 
inconvenience to pedestrians. 

It was not, indeed, until our entrance into one of these 
thoroughfares that we felt that we were in a populous 
city, or that we had the opportunity of making particular 
observation of any features peculiar to the Egyptian 
Arabs in their capital. The first thing that attracted 
my curiosity was an ample party at the entrance of a 
coffee-house, gathered round an Egyptian, who was 
reading to his countrymen a work which, upon en- 
quiry, we found to be one of the hundred and seventy 
stories in the £ Alf Seela LilaJ which we term the 
6 Arabian Nights' Entertainments,' and which seemed 
to afford great amusement even among the grave in- 
habitants of Cairo. 

We soon came upon a commercial street, where there 
were rows of shops filled with all kinds of goods on both 
sides, while the way was thronged with foot-passengers, 
loaded camels, and donkeys with riders. The best 
shops are properly deep recesses, called mustabahs, in 
the lower stories of the buildings. In their fronts they 
have each a projecting apartment, with floors about 
the height of the waist. There are shelves on all sides 
within them, replete with goods, and provided with 
shutters divided horizontally in the middle, with hinges 
at the top and bottom. 

c 



18 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



The floors within these open fronts were here covered 
with carpets, made, if you might judge from the agree- 
ment of the pattern and the place, for the very purpose, 
and upon the seats there were cushions. Kails on either 
side separated the otherwise adjoining shops, and were also 
placed in front, with an opening in the centre or on one 
side, and within these rails the merchants sat or reclined 
while enjoying the tchebook, apparently with as much 
unconcern, until addressed, as if they had no interest at 
stake. 

But although this is the general character of the 
shops of the dealers in the finer or more expensive kinds 
of goods, there are many exhibiting tobacco, fruits, 
pipes, sweetmeats, chandlery, butter, cheese, hardware, 
and earthenware, none of which have these agreeable 
fronts, but are merely great cupboards, in some of which 
the dealers sit ready with their weights and scales, while 
in others, men are seen following their various mechani- 
cal employments. 

We stopped at a shop which was stocked with woollen 
goods, and we asked to see some tarbooches, which it was 
quite time we should substitute for our European hats ; 
and this gave us the opportunity of taking a nearer view 
of the good dealer's depot, and of gaining a little know- 
ledge concerning the method of transacting this kind of 
business in Cairo. 

Our dragoman first asked to see some of the better 
sort, upon which the dealer, after very leisurely placing 
his pipe against the wall, rose, and kneeling upon his seat 
reached us about a dozen of various prices, from thirty 
piastres (or about six-and-sixpence) to some, with very gay 
and expensive tassels, for which he asked a sum equal to 
three pounds sterling. We had now a great deal of bar- 



CAIRO. 



19 



gaining, or at least talking, between the guide and the 
dealers, which probably related more to the little present 
that guides are accustomed to receive from the dealers on 
these occasions, than to the prices of the tarbooches. At 
length, however, we suited ourselves, and all parties were 
satisfied, both with the principal articles we purchased at 
a moderate price, and several white caps which are always 
worn beneath the tarbooeh. 

Crowds of pedestrians are seen lounging from stall to 
stall in these thoroughfares, pipe in hand, and many 
mounted upon donkeys pursuing their way through 
the throngs, with occasionally a prouder man upon a 
richly caparisoned steed, and attended sometimes by a 
servant mounted, with his master's tchebook in his hand, 
and sometimes by one or two attendants on foot by his 
side, but in all cases by a seize or hostler, whose business 
in the street is to open the way for the horse ridden by 
his master, with the free use of a whip or stick. 

But amidst all the varieties of the scene, and the 
crowds that thronged the thoroughfare at this time, 
though we saw many women of the inferior classes, 
only one party of the ladies of Cairo came before us. 
They were seated very high upon tall donkeys, and 
wrapped in black silk robes which entirely concealed 
their persons ; but were guarded, as far as we were able 
to perceive, only by the boys who drove their donkeys. 
But if we might judge from their eyes, the only feature 
visible, they were generally young and attractive, though 
the edges of their eyelids were well blacked with kohl 
after the fashion of the Egyptian women, to set off that 
usually fine feature in a southern clime. 

During this tour we saw no shop or office of any kind 
which could have belonged to Europeans, and we met 

c 2 



20 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



none but native Egyptians. Thus, satisfied with this first 
introduction to one of the great thoroughfares of the 
Egyptian metropolis, we returned to our hotel to dine at 
a Cairo ' table-d'hote,' upon the character of which a few 
remarks will be made in the following chapter. 



21 



CHAPTER IV. 
Cairo— continued. 

A Dinner at the Hotel — Strange Company — Christian Quarter — Copts-^ 
The Gardens within the Walls of Cairo — Search for Lodgings among the 
Copts — Pleasant Accident, 

Evert one knows how much less reserved and difficult of 
access we find foreigners than foreigners find us, though 
we are in fact more ready for familiar intercourse with 
strangers than with our own countrymen. It happened, 
during a walk which I took with my Italian companion, 
Signor Miranclo, in the garden of oar hotel, that before 
dinner both my friend and myself, had become familiar 
with a mixed group of strangers. Europeans in Arab 
costume asked questions that soon discovered that their 
adverse politics had caused their evident exile. There 
were Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians among them, 
all of whom spoke very openly, and there were some 
Spaniards who were silent. 

But we were summoned to dinner, and on entering 
the room we found a table laid out for about twenty 
guests, and among those who came were several whom 
we had not before seen. They seemed to be for the 
most part of the same countries as those whose ac- 
quaintance we had already made, with the exception of 
two Bombay merchants, who, with myself, were the only 
British subjects present. 

The landlord, who was a Frenchman, now took his 



22 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



post at the head of the table, and the feast began. Good 
bouillon was followed by bouilli, and bouilli by fish, fowl, 
flesh of kid, and mutton, and beef ; and after these came 
several kinds of confitures, such as none but a Frenchman 
knows how so to mingle with heavier viands as to neu- 
tralise their ill effects, and all minds seemed for a time 
absorbed in the enjoyments of the table. 

The scene, however, began gradually to exhibit symp- 
toms of less sensual enjoyment. The grosser pleasures of 
the table must cease, and the best appetite must be in 
time sated. The choicest dishes can but respond to our 
immediate necessities, and the force of art can go no 
further. But wine still comes to relieve the dulness that 
may succeed, when the lips give utterance to what the 
spirit dictates, and words and phrases have no longer 
a doubtful meaning. Several Italians first conversed 
together, moved almost to tears with feelings of at- 
tachment for their country, and sympathy for those of 
their countrymen still subject to a foreign yoke. They 
agreed that were all Italy but free, and one people, their 
country would soon again take the lead in human affairs, 
both moral and political, as well as in literature and science. 
The natural riches of the fairest of the provinces of Italy, 
said a Venetian, now maintain the fortresses and prisons 
of Austria, and the world sees, and approves or permits, 
the tyranny which engenders this injustice. A Prussian 
approved the declaration of the Venetian, and blamed the 
French people, who he said were responsible for the 
present condition of the Austrian portion of Italy. But a 
Frenchman, when he heard this, exclaimed, ' It is not to 
France nor to Frenchmen that Italy owes her troubles, 
and there is hope yet.' 

But this was but a slight indication of the full character 
of the scenes that followed. Italians, Poles, Spaniards, 



CAIRO. 



23 



Germans, and others, all soon vied with one another in 
the vehemence and bitterness of their hatred of all that 
is held to be sacred in Europe. 4 There are no kings on 
the earth,' said one, 4 that should not be dethroned ; ' 4 no 
governments,' said another, 4 that it is not lawful to over- 
throw ; and no liberty extant, except for a European, in 
Egypt.' 

Such anathemas against European rulers next followed, 
as defy all the power we possess to faithfully record. 
4 There was no religion,' was now said, 4 that was not a 
cheat! There were no devils but the European sove- 
reigns ! There was no God ! ' 

But what is bad as well as good has its end ; and 
parties were withdrawing to enjoy the tables of another 
kind, with coffee, tchebooks, cards, dice, political liberty, 
and unrestrained moral licence, when Signor Mirando 
and myself retired to take our tcheboolcs and coffee in 
our private apartments. 

This was the first, as well as the last, dinner of the 
kind that I partook of at Cairo. The whole character of 
the thing was such as few Englishmen would choose a 
second time to encounter. The feelings of my friend 
were not less outraged than mine by this sample of 
European manners and morals in a Mussulman city. 
Thus, with one of his countrymen whose acquaintance we 
had opportunely made, and sometimes another Italian, 
to whom we were indebted for great civilities, we formed 
a little party, and lived apart from the rest during the 
short time that myself remained at the hotel. I ought 
to mention, however, that my travelling friend met with 
better company in the same hotel later in the season, 
when the travellers began to arrive from Europe and 
from Palestine. 

The plans for the future which my companion since 



24 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



quitting Syra, and myself, had now formed were different. 
It was my friend's intention to cross the desert as soon as 
the extreme heat which prevailed should have mode- 
rated, while I had determined to visit the upper country, 
for which it was necessary to remain at Cairo until the 
inundations, which would not yet for some time prevail, 
should have sufficiently subsided, and the weather be- 
come cool enough, to mount the Nile with the greatest 
advantage. Under these circumstances I determined to 
procure a house in which I might remain for some 
months. 

Cairo, like all Mussulman cities that have any portion 
of their native population Christian, has also its Chris- 
tian quarter, which is named after the particular sect 
which inhabit it, who are here the descendants of the 
ancient Egyptians, and distinguished by the name of 
Copts ; and it is in the Copt quarter alone that Europeans 
can conveniently reside. In this direction, then, under 
the guidance of the servant whom my friend and myself 
had hitherto had in common, I set off in search of a 
private dwelling. 

We first passed through a quarter in which there were 
residing some Europeans, the distinguishing feature of 
which seemed to be some wine and beer stores, or cellars 
with advertisements generally in an Italian monosyllable. 
At the most notorious of these, which I afterwards fre- 
quently passed, a European was sitting, Bacchus-like, by 
the side of a cask of wine, the very antitheton, in dress, 
figure, and pursuit, to an Arab of the same class. 

We next came upon the most open and delightful por- 
tion of the Egyptian capital, which, in a complete account 
of Cairo, would well merit a particular description, but a 
few words will here suffice. 

The proper gardens within the walls of Cairo are gene- 



CAIRO. 



25 



rally close and gloomy, but the great square of Uzbek- 
heeh, which we now entered, is remarkable for its open 
and cheerful character, and wants only the moving scene 
of a similar place in any city in Europe to display many 
of the appendages to refinement during the hours of re- 
laxation. But what it presented now it presents at all 
hours. The Pasha and his predecessors have here planted 
shrubs and laid out walks, and made avenues of the fresh 
circassia, and thus given form to the ready materials, be- 
fore the elements that should animate the scene are yet 
conceived. It forms a nearly square space about a 
mile and a half, where on all sides are seen to the 
best advantage some of the finest edifices in Cairo, in- 
cluding a military college, and a long line of ancient 
houses, evidently the residences of families in easy cir- 
cumstances. Between the houses and the walks there is 
a broad road, where may be often seen a stately 
Arab on horseback, attended by one or two ser- 
vants on foot, and a seize, or hostler, who precedes him. 
Dikes have been raised to form a canal that receives the 
waters of the Mle, which circulate round the place when 
the inundations have attained a considerable height ; but 
this again becomes dry when the Nile is lower. The 
walks on the bank of the canal have been planted with 
trees, which now flourish in all their freshness and 
beauty. 

Although there are in general but few of the votaries 
of pleasure to be seen at the very place which seems 
formed for their reception, there is a little exception when 
the canal is full. At that time a few benches and stalls 
are placed together in a narrow space near the Christian 
quarter, and these are chiefly frequented by the Copts, 
with whom are mingled a few of the less rigorous of their 
Mussulman neighbours. 



26 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AXD SYEIA. 



After keeping the broad road by the older houses that 
face the eanal, we entered an alley by a gate that would 
scarcely have admitted a horse and his rider, and after 
threading one or two more of these passages, we arrived 
at the house of the patriarch of the Copts, who my 
servant had learned, and I believe correctly, possessed all 
the habitable houses that were to be let in this quarter. 

The good man's gate was shut when we arrived, but 
on knocking we were quickly answered by a porter, who, 
after opening two doors, admitted us without hesitation. 
The ready official was an old man, without shoes, 
and in very rags, presenting altogether so wretched a 
figure, that he looked more like a melancholy maniac 
than a member of the household of a high, church 
dignitary. But as soon as he was told that my busi- 
ness was to confer with the patriarch, he informed 
us that his Grace was indisposed and confined to his 
bed, but that I might see a deacon of the church, who 
was at present by the bedside of the patriarch. Thinking 
this sufficient, I requested that I might see the deacon ; 
upon which the good maD, after having conducted us 
across a spacious court to a recess furnished with benches, 
bade me be seated, and then left, to communicate my 
wishes to the dignitary above mentioned. He was, how- 
ever, some time before he reappeared ; but it being the 
first occasion that I had of seeing the entrance of a 
native house at Cairo, I made with my guide a prying 
tour of the court, in which I found sufficient to interest 
me during his absence. 

4 There is no danger of committing any offence here,' 
said my guide, in answer to a question concerning the 
fair sex that I put to him. 4 There is no harem to intrude 
upon, and the people are as humble as they are poor.' 

The court was of the form of a parallelogram of 



CAIRO. 



27 



about forty feet by twenty, with a deep recess on each of 
the longer sides, the one at which we had entered having 
two doors at the bottom of it, and the other having a 
door and also a bench, upon which the attendant had 
requested me to seat myself. Upon one side of the house 
there appeared to be three stories, and upon the other 
only two. There were no windows on either side looking 
upon the court, but from the door upon the staircase 
which we opened we could perceive windows, appa- 
rently latticed and closed. We opened another door 
on the opposite side of the court, within which we 
found a donkey and some goats ; and upon the pavement 
of one of the wings of the court, which was strewed with 
a few dried palm-leaves, lay a miserable half-starved 
mule, which we afterwards learned belonged to the 
deacon, who was only upon a visit to the patriarch. 
Some dirty straw was lying before the wretched animal, 
but he looked more ready to die than to eat. In the 
same wing of the court there was also a well, furnished 
with a pulley attached to a short beam extending from 
the wall, and there was a little recess upon which stood 
two large jars containing water. 

At length the attendant who had admitted us was seen 
with slow step descending the stairs, followed by the 
churchman in his black turban and dark under as well as 
upper dress, and Arab robes. And now a little circum- 
stance occurred, the mention of which may be slightly 
useful to some one intending to make a journey into the 
East ; for it will show that we should begin our outward 
change of manners simultaneously with our change of 
costume. 

As the parties approached each other, there could 
scarcely have appeared, to the most facetious disposition, 
to be any element of the ludicrous in the sober group. 



28 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



What could there be between a grave Coptic deacon 
with an old and ragged attendant, an Englishman with 
a Mussulman guide, and two boys that had just brought 
in our donkeys to pick up some loose blades of straw that 
were scattered about the court, that could belong to the 
ludicrous ? The priest, indeed, advanced the very pic- 
ture of gravity itself, and as he approached, he gave the 
salaam, or accustomed salute of the country ; and to 
respond to this I lost no time, for I immediately raised 
my hand to uncover and return the compliment by a 
European bow. But I had forgotten that my hat had 
been changed for a tarbooch, and upon finding the accus- 
tomed covering of the head wanting, and not remember- 
ing upon the instant that the tarbooch should never be 
removed, instead of putting my hand upon my breast, 
after the manner of the deacon, I made an attempt to lift 
the tarbooch, by which I doubled the awkward conse- 
quences of the error by knocking it off, without being 
able to catch it as it fell. 4 The devil take it ! ' or some 
such expression of anger, would perhaps have been satis- 
faction enough for this. But it happened that, at the 
very moment of the mistake, one of the poor donkeys 
was picking up a piece of straw by my side, and the 
tarbooch fell upon his head as he was raising it. The 
beast, doubtless not knowing it from the falling leaf of a 
palm-tree, or from a bee come to worry him, flapped his 
his ears and tossed his head, and thus threw the tarbooch 
directly in the face of the deacon, who, as he started back 
and raised his hands, tossed off his turban also, and left 
his head as bare as the barber had perhaps that morn- 
ing made it. But this was a subject for additional 
vexation rather than amusement. Indeed, it seemed as 
if mirth were never at a greater distance than at this 
instant; and, had the deacon and the attendants only 



CAIRO. 



29 



thought of recovering the turban, and myself and guide 
thought but of the tarbooch, we might have parted with 
indignant feelings on one side and vexation upon the 
other. But nothing was further from the thoughts at 
least of the Egyptians, and upon the instant the two 
Copts, master and man, fell upon the poor donkey, the 
deacon seizing him by the fore-lock and the attendant 
by the tail, which the latter began to twist after the 
common custom of tormenting this animal in Egypt. 
But this was but a signal for worse that was at least 
preparing for poor bruin ; for my attendant, not cer- 
tainly in aid of the oppressed, but for vengeance, in 
spite of the screaming of the boys, drew his sword, 
to vindicate, as he said, European honour upon the 
beast ; and, as I seized his arm, it might be truly said 
the poor beast was the object at once of three human 
passions: anger — revenge — and pity, which came to rescue 
him from a violent end. He might have been insensible 
to his position, and certainly seemed so ; for in spite of 
the tugging of his mane and the twisting of his tail, he 
neither brayed nor kicked, and almost seemed to say, 
6 If you will, you may ! ' 

But if this sudden burst of passion was great, it was 
not of long duration, and the Mussulman's sword was not 
sheathed, nor the turban and tarbooch long recovered, 
before this ill-humour gave place to more humane feel- 
ings. Neither religion in her gloomiest apparel, nor 
ragged poverty, nor Mussulman gravity, could resist the 
better dictates of nature, and all now, from the deacon 
down to the happy donkey-boys, joined heartily in a 
jocund chorus, and the poor donkey walked leisurely 
away. Such were the accidents that attended my intro- 
duction to the good Copts of Grand Cairo. 

The deacon, as the porter now left us, conducted my 



30 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



dragoman and myself to an apartment upon the ground 
floor of his patron's mansion, and bade me be seated 
upon a divan, and my servant on the floor. He then 
took his seat beside me, and our business forthwith com- 
menced. 

I began by telling the worthy churchman my chief 
want, which he had probably guessed, as his reply was 
rather quick for an Egyptian. The patriarch, he said, had 
houses to let, but whether they would be placed at my 
service must depend upon several matters which were 
necessary to consider. Among these, he said, the prin- 
cipal would be my objects in coming to dwell in this 
quarter, and the sort of establishment I intended keeping. 
The patriarch, he said, would not lease one of his houses 
to any stranger whose pursuits would give umbrage 
to the Mussulmans around, nor to any one whose morals 
might be likely to bring scandal upon the Christian 
population. Had I a wife, he asked, or a female slave ; 
or did I intend, like some Europeans, to keep an esta- 
blishment without a harem, in defiance of Arab morals, 
and therefore an insurmountable objection to my settling 
among them. All this, however, he said, was asked 
without the least desire to know more of my affairs 
than would enable him to do what little might lay 
in his power to serve me. 

I was not well prepared for these questions and objec- 
tions, but I informed the deacon that I had brought no 
wife with me, and that I had neither married nor pur- 
chased a female slave since I arrived. But I added that 
celibacy was not considered disreputable in my country, 
and that I wished that the error, if it were such, might be 
here overlooked or pardoned ; but if this really could 
not be clone, that the offence might be endured, until 
time at least had been given, to properly remedy the evil 



CAIEO. 



31 



by my obtaining the first of all Christian men's wants and 
desires — a lawful wife. 

To have reached this point in the progress of business 
between two men whose natural signs as well as speech 
were unintelligible to each other, would have been im- 
possible without an interpreter ; and, through an inter- 
preter who, as a Mussulman, I was forced to believe was 
prejudiced against the religious order to which the 
deacon belonged, and thus likely to be not always correct 
in his interpretation, was not quite so easily done as it 
might appear to have been. We had arrived, however, 
at this point of the negotiation, when we were interrupted 
by the reappearance of the ragged attendant who had for 
a short time left us, and he now came in with two long 
tchebooks and two cups of coffee, which he presented to 
the two principals who were seated upon the divan, and 
then took his seat by the side of the interpreter ; and, as 
the deacon and myself puffed and sipped in preparation 
for the next stage of the negotiation, the two servants 
conversed concerning the difficulties to be overcome. 

I shall only add, that our negotiations came to no 
favourable termination, and that the British consul on the 
following day sent his chief dragoman with me in search 
of rooms, when, by his aid, I found a suitable house and 
apartments, still in the Coptic quarter. 



32 



CHAPTER V. 
cairo— continued. 

Horses — Dragoman— Size — Janizary — Manner of Riding — Visit to Sliubra — 
Ceremony of admitting the Waters of the Nile to Cairo — The Fertilising 
Qualities of the Deposit left by the Nile Water — Citadel of Cairo — Ali 
Pasha's Tomb — View from the Citadel — Beasts of Burden. 

When I was well settled for some time to come, I 
engaged a proper dragoman and a cook, and purchased 
a horse, which I found useful for a European remaining 
any time in Cairo, on account of the respect which it is 
necessary to court, although one has to make the sacrifice 
of riding perhaps a fleet animal at a walking pace in the 
town, a faster being very difficult, on account of the 
narrowness of the streets and the crowds of passengers 
on foot. 

My dragoman, or interpreter, it is as well to mention, 
had been a janizary in the service of the British consul, 
by which is understood a useful attendant upon a Euro- 
pean consul or vice-consul, every one of whom has one 
or more of the natives of this class employed in various 
ways in his service. This convenient aid usually speaks 
one of the European languages, though this may not be 
that of his employer ; and the more important of his 
duties lie in escorting his employer when abroad, and 
in acting as a trusty messenger in the conveyance of 
letters or messages requiring circumspection and for- 
mality. The rest of the servants wait more particularly 



CAIRO. 



33 



upon the second officer of the consulate, and rather 
occupy the place of the Suisse at the greater hotels in 
Paris, or of the messengers who sit at the gates or within 
the entrance-halls of our public offices in London. 

The costume of the proper janizary is Turkish, and the 
same as that of the Turks or Egyptians in the service of 
the Government, with the addition of a richly-figured silk 
kerchief and tassels, which is wound round the tarbooch 
upon the head. The upper garments consist of a rich 
vest and jacket embroidered with a great variety of silk 
and gold ornaments, A costly shawl is wound about 
the waist, within which pistols are generally placed, and 
a sword is worn at all times ; while, for trousers, they 
have loose drawers of white cotton, which tie below the 
knee, white cotton stockings, and the red slippers or 
shoes commonly worn in the country. 

My horse, of course, rendered necessary a third 
servant, who in the language of the country is called 
a seize, and whose duty, besides the care of the horse, is 
to precede his master wherever he may ride, partly to 
make a little parade, and partly to clear the streets. The 
men I have seen employed in this way are about the 
finest I have met with, and they have appeared to me 
much less inclined to laziness than their countrymen gene- 
rally. They usually carry their master's tchebook, and a 
stick with which they clear the way through the crowds. 
But a native of rank who rides, has sometimes attendants 
on horseback both behind him and on either side, though 
a European, unless he has been some time in the country, 
is usually only accompanied by his dragoman, on a horse 
or donkey, and by his seize on foot. 

The first ride that I indulged in after I was sufficiently 
established to command that degree of respect which is 
necessary, in order to ride with any pleasure or any 

D 



34 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



profit, was to Sliubra, to see the chief palaces and gardens 
of the Pasha, which are situated at about the distance of 
three miles from the town. As soon as I had prepared 
myself for this occasion, I looked out of the window to 
see whether the horse was at the door, and I was surprised 
to see one or two hundred persons gathered in front of the 
house, all of whom seemed to be of the inferior classes, 
but not, as might have been in Europe, of both sexes ; 
for though the women of the under classes frequent the 
streets here, of course veiled, it would not be decorous 
or perhaps possible for them to mix in a crowd of the 
other sex. I was somewhat surprised at this commotion, 
but my dragoman informed me that it was caused by the 
desire to see a European who had come to take up 
his residence among the Copts, who were the chief in- 
habitants of this district. 

However, I descended The seize held the bridle and 
the off stirrup, as I mounted from the step before the 
door, and then taking his place in front of my horse, 
he began to clear the way, which was obstructed by the 
persons assembled ; and, my dragoman having mounted 
his donkey, we directed our way to the palace and 
gardens we were about to visit. 

The seize was obeyed by all the men in our path ; 
for everyone gives way to the voice of this attendant, 
or at least submits without outward mirrmur to a rap 
from his wand of authority. The greatest obstruction, 
indeed, that a rider usually meets with is from the many 
blind men and women who sit in the streets selling dates, 
cucumbers, and water-melons, with their naked children 
around them. 

After proceeding some distance, we found the street 
leading to the gate of the town less crowded, and we 
advanced without hindrance. After passing the gate, 
however, we were much inconvenienced by clouds 



CAIRO. 



35 



of dust blowing from the direction in which we were going, 
and also from the heat of the sun. Those who cannot here 
bear his full beams in the month of August, show some 
hesitation before leaving the narrow and well-shaded 
streets of the town. The inconvenience we experienced 
from his bright rays was, however, of short duration, for 
at hardly one-eighth of a mile from the gate we entered 
an avenue of acacia and sycamore trees, such as would 
ornament the vicinity of any capital city in the world. 

This avenue extends the whole distance from where we 
entered it to the palace and gardens we were about to 
visit. The road is a raised way for about half the 
distance over a fertile plain. This is covered with water 
during the inundation, but had not as yet been sub- 
merged. On our way we met several hundred donkeys 
loaded with panniers of chopped straw, which is the usual 
substitute for hay in Egypt, and a long string of camels 
loaded with many articles of consumption for the town ; 
and as the donkeys passed us, we were a little incon- 
venienced by the dust they raised ; but from the bed of the 
river came a wholesome breeze, which rendered the air 
sufficiently cool to be agreeable. 

When we arrived at the gardens, we found the gates 
open, and the porter admitted us without difficulty, as 
the Pasha and his harem were not at the palace, in which 
case we should not have been permitted to enter. 

We first passed through several narrow avenues and 
dusty walks, bordered with myrtles, which brought us to 
the palace, of which I shall refrain from giving more 
than a very slight description, not, indeed, so much on 
account of any intricacy in the apartments of which it 
consists, as from the simplicity of the style which charac- 
terises an Oriental palace, 

The building has a square court within, with opposite 



36 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



entrances, and the ground is raised about ten or twelve 
feet above the outside level. We ascended by a broad 
flight of marble steps to a covered way around the open 
space. The roof of this arcade was supported by light 
marble columns of about twelve or fourteen feet in height ; 
and within these, which might enclose nearly an acre of 
ground, there was a large basin of water, with a foun- 
tain in the middle. Four smaller raised basins at each 
corner, into which fairly-executed figures of lions were 
spouting out the fresh element, after the common mode 
elsewhere, and which was again discharged into the grand 
reservoir beneath. But it may be here remarked, that 
images of living creatures seem rather ill-chosen here, 
since any such work of men's hands is more rigorously 
forbidden by the Koran than by the Pentateuch. 

The parade around this colonnade is most agreeable, 
being paved with marble, and having a parapet, also of 
marble, of a convenient height to sit upon. The grand 
apartment of the Pasha, the harem, and the other apart- 
ments in this part of the palace are all simply but well 
furnished. 

From this we mounted to a sort of promenade, to 
which a long flight of marble steps conducts, and here we 
found an apartment with windows on every side. The 
gallery around was luxuriously shaded by fresh foliage, 
which had spread over a latticed verandah, commanding 
a fine view of the Nile with the lateen sails upon its 
waters, and a portion of the rich plain through which it 
flows. 

After visiting another palace in the neighbourhood, 
now abandoned for that just described, and presenting 
nothing remarkable, we returned to Cairo. 

A few days after my trip to Shubra I had the good 
fortune to witness the ceremony and rejoicing which 



CAIRO. 



37 



annually take place near Cairo upon the opening of 
the canal, through which the waters of the Nile find 
their way to the capital. This canal is dammed up upon 
the retiring of the waters after the inundation, and left 
until that period of the succeeding year when the annual 
rising of the waters of the great river attains the height 
that ensures that degree of inundation which the 
harvests of Egypt require ; for there being too little rain 
in lower Egypt, and usually none in the upper countries, 
to fertilise the land, there would be no crops without 
the overflow of the Nile, and the rich deposits left when 
the waters retire, 

The rise of the Nile to the height which fertility 
requires has at all times been regarded with holy and 
joyous feelings, and was, in an age of greater darkness 
than that in which the Egyptians now live, celebrated 
by the sacrifice of a virgin, who was thrown into the 
canal, which connects the river with the town of Cairo. 
But the fete and ceremony are conducted at this time 
with more regard to humanity. A dike restrains the 
waters of the great river from entering the canal until 
they have attained the necessary height. At a given 
signal this obstruction is removed, and some coins (instead 
of a virgin) are thrown in by one of the agents of the 
Pasha, and are scrambled for by men, who jump in as 
the workmen give passage to the water. The rest of 
the rejoicings are conducted as they would be by Eu- 
ropeans, were our wives and daughters not permitted 
to mingle with the opposite sex. 

The rise of the Nile, from its commencement, is pre- 
cisely marked daily and cried, in Cairo, and timely notice 
is always given of the day on which the canal is to be 
opened, which is usually near the beginning of August. 
It was not this year, however, until the 16th of that month, 



38 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



During the clay which precedes the cutting away the 
obstructions to the passage of the water, boats gather 
about the entrance of the canal, upon the Nile. To- 
wards evening the river between Bulac, the port or 
quay of Cairo, and the mouth of the canal, which is a 
distance of about a mile, the water exhibits a scene of 
gaiety, from the greater part of the boats being very 
pleasant craft. They are filled with company whose cos- 
tume is in accord with the national colours everywhere 
flying— the whole forming a scene which will not easily 
fade from the recollection of the traveller who may have 
the opportunity, which I embraced, of witnessing it. 

After the departure of the daylight on this evening, 
some fireworks are exhibited ; but the more grand 
bouquets are reserved for the moment of opening the 
canal, which, however, is at an hour that renders their 
effect quite negative. 

The Pasha, who presided on the important day of this 
opening, arrived with his suite at about half-past nine 
o'clock in the morning, and, after passing through a double 
file of soldiers, dismounted, and took the chief seat hi a large 
tent, reserved for those who were willing to pay for their 
places of distinction. His highness took his place with 
some ceremony, but by what means he communicated his 
commands to cut the dike I did not perceive. The work 
was, however, speedily commenced, and coins were 
thrown into the deep, but yet dry, canal, and scrambled 
for by one or two hundred persons, who had descended 
the banks, until the water rushing down, as it forced, at 
first its slow, but afterwards its quicker, passage, carried 
some of the party off their legs, and obliged them to 
swim to recover the shores, which are accessible on either 
• side. 

The crowd of spectators on this occasion was very 



CAIRO. 



39 



great. Some persons estimated their number at from 
10,000 to 15,000; but I saw only one or two of the fair 
sex among them, and these, to judge from their dress, 
were quite of the lowest order. 

There is a phenomenon worthy to be observed during 
the rising of the Nile. The precious water, perhaps 
the softest and most delicious in the world, is not 
at any time remarkably clear. Late in June, and 
before the beginning of the augmentation of the flood, 
it appears to be of a light brown colour, not unlike 
that of the gravel and sand of the desert; which, I 
suppose, arises from the perpetual drift of the sand 
which it must receive throughout its course. But I 
observed afterwards — as, indeed, I had been informed 
would be the case — that for about two or three weeks, 
as the river began to rise, the water took a greenish 
tinge, which it was said was occasioned by the union of 
the waters remaining in the lakes since the inun- 
dation of the previous year. During this time, those 
who are liable to complaints of the bowels use more 
of the waters of certain fountains which are at Cairo, 
than is their custom at other times. I did not my- 
self, however, take any such precautions, and I found 
no ill effects from drinking very largely indeed of the 
famous waters of the great river. But the period of this 
inconvenience having passed over, the colour of the great 
flood now turns for a time to a reddish-brown, by no 
means very greatly differing from the colour of blood, 
with which we learn from the Scriptures the river once 
flowed for seven days. 

The deposit left by the waters of the Nile upon its 
banks after the inundation, is a rich slime, with which the 
water must, at some period of its course, have been 
necessarily impregnated. Thus it seems desirable that 



40 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



naturalists should ascertain what may be the proportion 
of this slime which it contains at different periods and at 
different places during its course, from which it might 
be discovered whether this is brought from its utmost 
sources or only from Upper Egypt and Nubia. 

The next public place which I visited was the citadel 
of Cairo. It is built upon a rocky hill, which forms the 
first elevation of the sterile mountains which separate the 
fertile valley of Egypt from the open country of the great 
desert. It has a palace within its walls, several of the 
principal Government offices, and a mosque built during 
the reign of Ali Pasha, to which is adjoined a building 
which contains the tomb of that remarkable man. 

The mosque is as simple in style as the temples of the 
Mussulman people generally are, and has one of those 
fountains which are placed outside the mosques for the 
worshippers to make their necessary ablutions ; but here 
again I observed, in spite of the Koran, the sculptured 
image of a bird. 

The mosque and the edifice which contains the tomb 
are placed very near the spot where the Mamelukes 
were slaughtered by command of Ah Pasha. All fell, it 
is said, save one, who escaped on horseback by leaping 
over the cliffs behind the palace. It was this act of the 
pious Pasha that established the power which he after- 
wards used with the rigour of a tyrant. 

I had scarcely finished writing this last paragraph at 
Cairo, when my dragoman entered the room, and I read 
it to him, as if written in a letter, and in French. 
I put some emphasis upon the latter lines, upon which 
after a moment he observed, that he hoped I should not 
dispatch the letter by the Pasha's post between here and 
Alexandria. 

6 It is not likely that I shall do so, ? I replied ; ' but it 



CAIRO. 



41 



would certainly go by that conveyance if the Europeans 
had not a better.' 

8 If I were the writer of such a letter and the letter 
were in the post, I should think my head worth a very 
little,' he then said. 

6 Do you suppose, then,' said I, i that the contents of the 
letter would become known to the present Pasha ? ' 

e His eye sees everything,' said the Arab, after which I 
did not make any further remark. 

From the terrace of the citadel there is one of the 
noblest views in the world. On either hand is spread 
the fertile valley of Egypt, extending as far as the 
eye can distinguish — the sycamore and the palm — with 
the winding Nile, looking more like a chain of tranquil 
lakes than a river ; whilst at the distance of barely three 
or four miles towards the west, which is about the breadth 
of the valley near Cairo, commence the great deserts of 
Libya, extending far into that quarter of the globe of 
which so small a portion of the present inhabitants have 
yet received a ray of the light which first shone upon 
the countries winch he beyond this river towards the 
rising sun. 

Near the opposite border of the valley, not the least 
imposing of the objects within view are the eternal 
pyramids of El-Ghizeh. They do not, however, show to 
great advantage from this distance, arising from the 
colour of the stone of which they are constructed, too 
nearly corresponding with that of the rough grounds 
above which they tower. 

To these distant objects here within our view may be 
added the isle of Eoda, upon which may be seen the palace 
formerly inhabited by Ibraham Pasha, with the fresh 
gardens that surround it — the palace and gardens of 
Shubra — and, above all, the entire capital of Egypt, the 



42 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



hum of whose population now reaches the ear. But with 
the great city, as with the pyramids, there is no distin- 
guishing colour ; and although you look over the dwell- 
ings of about 240,000 inhabitants, dotted here and 
there with public edifices and numerous mosques and 
minarets, there is little save ruin to attract the eye. 
All is uniform in colour, and of the same shade as the 
desert, from the roofless dwellings of the artisans to 
the comparatively grand dwellings of the proudest and 
most opulent citizens ; and even the mosques and the 
minarets that adorn the town, exhibiting the same feature 
of common decay, are tinged with deathlike tints of the 
desert. Some of the minarets do not even stand erect, 
while others are shattered as if they had been struck by 
cannon-balls. The effects of cannon-balls, or even of 
earthquakes, may indeed be described; but those of 
time, misrule, depopulation, decay of the arts, loss of 
energy in a people, cannot be so easily related. 

Walking through the streets of Cairo, one cannot 
fail to be struck by the utter want of uniformity or even 
of completeness in its buildings. If the front is complete, 
one of the sides or the back has fallen in, or the upper 
story has not been finished. Hundreds of houses are 
even seen wanting their whole fronts, while of many, 
some of the beams have fallen at one end and some 
at the other, and now rest on the floor of the apart- 
ment to which they once formed the roof. Even from 
the window at which I sit while writing this, though in 
one of the better streets and thoroughfares of the town, 
I can count five or six houses untenanted and decaying, 
with scarce a trace left of the colours with which their 
fronts have been once partly covered. 

The beasts of burden at Cairo are chiefly the donkey 



CAIRO. 



43 



and the camel, while horses, bullocks, and mules are 
but rarely thus employed. The donkey, indeed, is 
used for almost every kind of quadruped labour, from 
carrying a child to school to carrying a man to his mosque 
— from bringing water in skins from the Nile to carrying 
the stones for erecting a temple of Mussulman worship. 
But there is great variety in their kind, and those usually 
ridden by the ladies of Cairo are taller, more plump and 
round in their figures, than any to be seen in Europe. 
They are sometimes as spirited as our ponies ; but this 
latter quality they are said to lose almost entirely upon 
being sent no further away than Alexandria, which 
may perhaps be accounted for by the difference of 
climate, the atmosphere at Alexandria being at some 
seasons of the year as unwholesome and damp as that of 
Cairo is at all times dry and healthy. Yet these de- 
servedly cherished animals annoy some strangers by the 
noise they perpetually make in the streets. If their 
spirit is greater and their nature more noble than the 
donkeys of Europe, so much more in proportion do they 
delight in displaying the strength of their voices by their 
too well known discordant tones ; so that, when one of a 
party, while they are driven in herds, happens to begin 
to bray, his inharmonious note is accompanied by the 
voices of half the herd : and as you never lose sight of 
these animals in the streets, so you are rarely relieved 
from their discordant noises. 

But the camels with their drivers and their loads form 
objects of curious interest to the stranger in Cairo. 
These beasts carry immense weights, and are generally 
seen in the great thoroughfares in numbers from three 
or four to a dozen. The first is usually ridden by a 
driver or conductor, and the rest follow in a line, each 



44 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



one tied by the head with a rope which is fastened to the 
tail of the beast which precedes him. But sometimes the 
driver, seated upon a donkey, leads the first camel, and 
frequently this patient, not stubborn, little brute of Cairo, 
notwithstanding the weight of the Arab on his back, 
maybe seen exerting his strength in tugging at the leading- 
string of his lazy follower. 



45 



CHAPTER VI. 

CAIRO. 

Noisy Neighbours— The Flies — Mosquitoes — Sparrows — Difficulty of passing 
a Mussulman Lady in a narrow Way — Purchase of Tchebooks — The To- 
bacco of Egypt — The Ladies' Dresses — Difficulty of making Purchases — 
Walking in the Streets alone — The Arrangements for the Dogs — Quarrels 
in the Streets. 

The bedroom which I occupied at this time, at Cairo, was 
situated at the back of the house, and between it and 
the front room there was an open space with a passage 
across it, roofed at a considerable height above my apart- 
ments. Thus the voices of the inhabitants of a roofless ' 
house with low walls on one side of me, found easy 
entrance to my rooms, and the tones of the women were 
heard incessantly. Under these circumstances it was in 
vain to seek repose until slumber had quite overcome all 
my noisy neighbours. 

On the side of the house which looked upon the 
street, from the window at which I sat were to be seen, in 
front of the house opposite, two apertures rather than 
windows, which appeared to be filled up with what our 
sailors would call dead lights. These were rarely pushed 
more than a few inches open. This I subsequently 
learnt was on account of the women within being for- 
bidden to let even air into their rooms, while there was 
a hat — which is the term used emphatically by the na- 
tives to signify a Christian foreigner, just as we might use 



46 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



the word 6 turban 1 to designate a Mussulman — even in the 
vicinity. The penalty for the infraction of this injunction 
being, towards all classes of the fan 1 sex in Cairo, a 
beating with a stick, which is seldom long delayed. 

Only one other house, near mine, appeared to be in- 
habited. It had two stories. The ground floor, which is 
that generally appointed in Cairo for horses and donkeys, 
appeared to have no inhabitants either rational or ir- 
rational. In the story above this, there seemed to 
be a large room, well windowed, but two-thirds of each 
window was covered with close lattice-work, and the rest 
with curtains, which I never saw moved an inch. Upon 
enquiry, I found this house belonged to a Turk, who had 
his harem in the front room of the first floor, For the 
present, however, I seemed to cause no inconvenience 
to this worthy Mussulman, 

One of the greater annoyances from little living 
creatures which I have ever experienced, has been in 
Egypt, where every stranger in the land, and perhaps the 
natives themselves, must occasionally suffer more or less 
from this plague. I could not have believed that the 
common fly, the tenant of every country and clime, could 
have been such a nuisance anywhere as I found it here. 
During many years of almost forced wandering, where I 
have not found the flies varying in appearance or nature. 
I have entertained an affection, or feeling of some such 
sort towards them, such as most men have felt for one 
or more of other irrational creatures. But most other 
creatures so vary, according to the chmes in which they 
flourish, that those of the same species, for which a man 
may have had some affection in one country, sometimes 
become strange to him in another. But concerning the 
flies I must add, that I never killed one since a child 
until now, but here the temptation was too strong to 



CAIRO. 



47 



resist. I read ' Tristram Shandy ' when young, and 
although I could not perhaps at any time have acted 
like the father of Tristram, who in his old age caught a 
fly that interrupted his measuring his way on the map, 
and have walked like this good man to the window to put 
the usually harmless creature into the air rather than take 
vengeance upon him for annoying me, yet, since I read 
that work, I have always at home regarded the insect 
with a kind of superstitious affection. But in Egypt they 
swarm in numbers that cannot be counted, and their 
audacity is such as I think would have defied the utmost 
patience of Mr. Shandy. In a more temperate chmate, 
and at any other season, they might have been cleared 
from an apartment, but where windows and doors are 
kept continually open, this is impossible. The swarms 
that infest the human habitations here from sunrise to 
sunset, must be from time to time destroyed before 
comfort can be obtained. They happily, however, sleep 
during the night, though their places are then filled 
by the more positive enemies of man, the mosquitoes. 
These, luckily for the traveller's peace, are at rest during 
the hot hours of the day, and the simple and customary 
precaution of a mosquito- curtain will ensure for him 
comparative tranquillity at night. 

While I write, half-a-dozen sparrows are the denizens 
of my room, all hopping about upon the matting ; but 
they are not precisely the English sparrow. Yet I 
regret not their visits, for they cause me no incon- 
venience ; though I do not feel the same affection for 
them that I have felt for the flies. I had hardly counted 
the six before three more joined them, and they shall all 
now be fed. 

Sparrows even occasionally build their nests in the 
larger rooms of some of the houses here, which arises, no 



48 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



doubt, from their love of cool dwellings, and from the 
respect they receive from the natives, who do not destroy 
them, as well as from the supply of insects with which all 
parts of the houses abound. 

A little incident befell me in the streets of Cairo, which 
might have passed without notice on my part, had not 
the writer of the work above referred to been once placed 
in a somewhat similar position. In a narrow street in 
Cairo I suddenly came upon a veiled lady. I have been 
accustomed generally to do at once what Laurence Sterne 
did after his first embarrassment was over. Instead of 
dodging, I have stood still to let the lady choose which 
side pleased her best. I do not know whether this lady 
was young or old, but her eyes were very brilliant, and, 
if I were not deceived by her dress, she was as fat as a 
Turk could have wished. There was space enough in 
the lane for two persons to pass each other, but not much 
to spare. The meeting was unexpected, and we were on 
the same side of the way. I stepped immediately to the 
opposite side, and the fair Egyptian at the same moment 
instinctively did the same. Then both again made the 
opposite movement together, upon which the lady, what- 
ever might have been her impression, suddenly threw off 
the slippers that were over her shoes, and, turning round, 
. uttered a shriek, and fled in the direction from which she 
came. My surprise, I confess, was great ; I stood for 
a moment quite still ; but, observing the lady enter a 
house, I picked up the slippers and walked on until I 
arrived at the door she had entered. Here I re- 
ceived from a negress who was there waiting what 
I interpreted as a torrent of abuse, during which I threw 
the slippers into the passage, whereupon the door was 
slammed, and I walked on. 

I found myself at this time set up in everything save 



CAIEO. 



49 



my tchebooks, which, as they cost some pains to select 
and are characteristic of the country, must give rise to a 
few remarks. 

The Egyptian tchebook is so important an article 
in the economy of a Cairo house, that to live without it 
would be impossible. It is the first thing presented to 
every gentleman who enters your apartment, whether he 
should' come for business or ceremony, or for any other 
cause. A cup of coffee then follows, and the host and 
guest, alike in a private dwelling or in a shop or stall, 
take their seats, generally upon a low divan ; and as 
the exhilarating fumes are puffed from the lips, the con- 
versation 6 drags its slow length along,' or is more ani- 
mated, according to the effects, which are various, upon 
the inhalers. Thus, the tobacco used in Egypt, the better 
sort of which is brought from Syria, has been described 
by different travellers as inspiring, or without effects, 
according to the temperature or immediate disposition of 
the inhaler. But from my experience in smoking, and 
my observation of its effects upon others, I should pro- 
nounce it to be gently exhilarating after meals, but too 
exciting for Europeans in general at any other time. If, 
therefore, my observation be just, it should be a useful as 
well as agreeable drug, when used in moderation, but in 
excess, physically and no doubt morally injurious ; and if 
this be true, it may be said to have some of the effects 
of wine, both upon those who do and those who 
do not indulge in that too often abused cordial, but it 
most certainly tends to relieve the ennui which always 
follows the absence of any occupation in which we have 
been engaged. A Turk or an Arab can hardly take 
a ride for an hour without stopping to seat himself and 
inhale the precious fumes of which we are speaking. 
The seize, as before mentioned, carries the long instrument 

E 



50 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



of luxury in his hand, and when his master is anywhere 
seated, whether at a stall or in a bazaar, or, if without 
the town, under a sycamore or palm-tree, he hands him 
the tchebook, and the tediousness of the time is relieved 
by the exhilarating fumes that are inhaled. 

I now set out with my dragoman for the quarter where 
the most important or most expensive part of the 
tchebook, which is the mouthpiece, is usually bought. 
This commonly consists of a piece of amber, nicely orna- 
mented with gold or silver, or some other metal, but is 
sometimes even set with diamonds, and its value estimated 
according to the quantity of the precious metals or jewels 
with which it is decorated. A traveller, at any rate, may 
furnish his house with all he can want of these mouth- 
pieces for a few dollars ; but those I have seen used by 
European residents in the country, or by natives, I have 
heard estimated from one or two dollars to five hundred 
each ; and some of the Pashas or Beys smoke through 
amber and rich jewellery worth from one thousand to 
three thousand dollars. 

The bazaar to which we came was full of purchasers 
of every article of commerce, and among them there 
were many more ladies than I had elsewhere seen, so that 
as my dragoman bargained for the articles we wanted, I 
had an opportunity of taking some notice of the fair 
visitors. The greater part of them were under their 
usual guard, but several parties were without that dis- 
graceful commentary upon the morals of the East. 

The costume of a lady of Cairo consists, to begin at 
the lowest extremity, first of all of a pair of boots of 
yellow leather, over which are slippers of the same 
colour with neither heel nor quarter, and to keep these 
from creasing she shuffles along, scarcely even lifting her 
feet from the ground. Around the boots are tied the full 
trousers, over which falls a frock or gown to within six 



CAIEO. 



51 



or eight inches of the ankles. The trousers are generally 
of a mixed colour, red or blue predominating, and the 
frock is commonly red or light blue, and is for the most 
part partially open from the throat to the chest. As no 
stays are worn by any class or at any age, the dress does not 
conceal above half that portion of the female form which 
our European ladies think much more necessary to cover 
than the face. Around the head, which is covered, is 
passed a band, from which is suspended a black crape or 
white muslin veil with narrow openings, through which 
the eyes only may be seen, and this band is sometimes 
ornamented with spangles of mother-of-pearl. But over 
all is worn a habarali of black silk, which passes over the 
head and envelopes the whole person, save the part 
already mentioned, and appears to be devised especially 
to enable the wearer to conceal the form of her body, 
which it successfully accomplishes, for it has no waist and 
no arms, but is kept from falling off by the hands of the 
lady who is wearing it. 

Thus wholly concealed, with the exception of the eyes, 
a, portion of the bosom, and now and then the arms, 
which are not covered when the habarah is open, and 
disfigured by the step, attitude, and motion, the Egyptian 
ladies cannot be great objects of attraction in the bazaars, 
where they are more seen than elsewhere. Of their eyes, 
indeed, they very charitably endeavour to make the 
most by the use of the Jcohl. Not contented with the 
fine dark eye with which nature has adorned them, they 
paint the edges of the eyelids with black streaks ; and 
this practice is universal among the better classes of whom 
we are speaking. This, however, makes the contrast 
very great between the white veil and the dark eye. 
The finger-nails also of the ladies are stained with either 
red, or blue, or black 



52 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Among the women of the lower classes, some want 
shoes, and wear no other garment than a simple coarse 
blue shirt, usually more open at the bosom than the 
dresses of the classes above them, with a black veil, and 
a cap and handkerchief about the head, while some have 
a habarah of the same material as the shirt. The women 
of this class are tattooed, yet not so coarsely as to leave 
any other blemish than a sky-blue stain, sometimes on the 
chin or forehead, sometimes upon the front of the bosom, 
and almost always upon the hands or arms. Upon the 
back of their hands there are usually two stripes of stars 
between lines, and stars and other fanciful figures are 
sometimes drawn upon the arms from the wrist to the 
elbow, and even higher. Some women, quite of the 
lowest classes, do not wear proper veils, but they cover 
all the face except one eye by their never- wanting coarse 
blue habarah, and some of the country women do not 
cover their faces until one of the other sex fixes his eye 
upon them ; but many of these make strange figures 
of themselves by the most extraordinary of all supposed 
ornaments, the nose-ring. Were this no larger than the 
ordinary sized ear-ring of our ladies, there might possibly 
be some excuse for the taste of the people, but its incon- 
venience from its size is almost as great as its ugliness 
hi form. The ring passes through one side of the nose, 
which of course it draws considerably below the opposite 
side, and as it thus passes in front of the mouth, the 
food cannot be taken without putting it aside ; yet has 
this practice come down from the most remote antiquity * 

But to return to the bazaar more particularly. When 
we had fixed upon a stall which seemed to afford a very 
fair choice of various articles for ordinary use, as well as 
others of the more luxurious kinds, we inquired the prices 

* See the Third Chapter of Isaiah. 



CAIRO. 



53 



of several things which attracted my notice. A very light 
shaba, or loose cloak, was one of them, and I wished 
to purchase it ; but after getting the price lowered to little 
more than half what was first asked, without a chance 
of buying it at what my dragoman considered a fair price, 
we passed to the next stall, where the dealer asked such 
a price for the same article as appeared to be a decided 
refusal to deal with us, upon which we both laughed, 
while the dealer maintained his accustomed gravity, and 
took no notice of us, upon which we walked further on. 

£ I think I know your excellency's taste,' then said the 
dragoman ; 6 and if you will sit down for a moment I 
shall have no difficulty in procuring what you want. 
There are a very few of the people in any of the bazaars 
who will deal fairly with Europeans.' 

Upon this I desired him to purchase a shiiba by him- 
self, and soon after I had seated myself upon an empty 
bench he returned with precisely the same thing that we 
had been together disappointed in purchasing, which he 
had procured at about half the lowest price demanded by 
the first dealer with whom we had treated. He was 
rather pleased with his bargain, and as I was displeased 
at the high demand made, merely because I was a 
foreigner and a stranger in the bazaar, I desired him to 
hold up the shuba as we passed our surly old friends, 
stating at the same time the price at which he had pur- 
chased it. This was done, but not the slightest change of 
countenance in either of these men indicated any feeling 
whatever. 

My next wish was to buy a saddle, and we stopped at 
a stall and asked to see one of the simplest of the Egyp- 
tian saddles, for those that are richly ornamented are fit 
only for Pashas, and are very expensive ; and while I was 
examining one that they handed us, the seize who was 



54 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



with us took a strap in his hand and declared that neither 
the saddle nor its trappings were new. Upon this the 
dealer flew into a violent passion, and declared the seize 
to be a liar, which being one of the worst insults that 
could be offered, the seize, knowing very well that he 
was under the protection of the dragoman's weapon, ex- 
claimed, that he would pull the dealer's beard if he 
should say another word. Upon this the fury of the 
dealer was raised to the highest pitch, and both seemed 
to be preparing for a combat, when the dragoman, 
choosing to consider the dealer in the wrong, gave him a 
gentle hint that if he did not remain in his place, he 
would transport him instantly to the citadel to receive a 
bastinadoing, which would have the desired effect ; upon 
which the saddler added only, that he would have no 
dealings whatever with us. 

We soon afterwards purchased a rather remarkable 
saddle without much difficulty. It was of fine cloth, and 
was chiefly stuffed with cotton wool. The stuffed portion 
was ample enough to cover the ribs of the animal, and 
the cloth would extend to his tail, while on either side as 
far as the stuffed part extended, towards the shoulder and 
behind, the black cloth fell to the stirrup, and the whole 
was bordered with a rich black fringe. Some other loose 
trappings fell beneath the haunches of the animal, and a 
band with black tassels passed across his chest and joined 
to the saddle on both sides. A bridle which we also 
bought consisted of black leather straps handsomely or- 
namented with tassels across the forehead and on either 
side of the breast, and such were the more simple of the 
Egyptian saddles and bridles. 

I have found nothing during the early part of my stay 
in any country I have visited, that has given me more 
pleasure than walking through the streets alone, a tacit 



CAIRO. 



55 



observer of what is passing in the ordinary affairs of the 
people ; but, to this perhaps more agreeable than profit- 
able occupation, there are sometimes corresponding incon- 
veniences in eastern lands. In Cairo, so long as you do 
not go beyond the quarter where the Christians reside, 
the two principal inconveniences that you may ex- 
perience will arise from the number of camels and 
donkeys that you meet in the narrow ways, and the 
packs of dogs with which the broader ways abound. 
But if you frequent the purely Arab quarters alone, you 
may be sure of having to encounter inconveniences of 
some other and more serious character. 

The dogs of Cairo are of a shape and colour between 
that of the wolf and that of the fox. They live in some 
kind of society, and are divided into separate com- 
munities, each occupying its own locality, beyond which 
no dog of another locality can pass without the cer- 
tainty of battle. The Egyptians, like the Turks, do not 
keep dogs at home, and those which abound among 
them are only so far domesticated as to live in accord 
with all men equally, and to accept any favour or affront 
from all men alike. But if the dog of a European ac- 
company his master — I have, however, seen but one in- 
stance of this — he is immediately attacked as an intruder 
in any district, save his own, through which he passes. 
But though the Egyptians do not recognise the dogs' 
appropriation of particular quarters, they consider that 
this animal has an equal right with themselves to reside 
in the towns, and they do not ill-treat any of the species, 
and never kill them. These harmless creatures, never- 
theless, lie sometimes for days sick in the streets unpitied, 
yet by men unhurt ; and, often when they die, their 
bodies remain until they render the way almost im- 
passable before they are taken away and buried. You 



56 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



may generally tell, indeed, whether you are in a richer 
or poorer part of the town, by the condition of the dogs, 
though in neither of these do they perhaps ever fare very 
well. They are supposed to be useful in destroying the 
carrion with which the inferior ways of the town 
abound; but numbers always seem half starving, and 
often in a state of disease which must be productive of 
much harm. One thing, however, is certain, in spite of 
the periodical heats, the frightful mania so dangerous 
with our own dogs is not known either in Egypt or 
Turkey. 

Europeans who should frequent the parts of the town 
where strangers are seldom seen, and perhaps never 
alone, may be subjected to something more than an in- 
convenience by the treatment of some of their own 
species, from whom they may have had little reason to 
expect ill. I have been in such places unattended, and 
have been spitten upon and called by terms equivalent to 
infidel and dog by even young girls at the doors of their 
houses, into which they have retreated when I looked 
round ; and I have been followed the whole length of a 
street by urchins, who have used epithets which I could 
only understand by the gestures of my little enemies, 
who have received no check from any citizen of a larger 
growth passing by, but rather approval, if I were able to 
judge of their feelings by their looks. On one occasion, 
from a sort of balcony at the first floor of a small house, 
six or seven women and children together spat upon me, 
and accompanied this good treatment with execrations, 
among which, amidst the confusion of soft voices, I could 
only distinguish the word ' kelt ' (dog). But this was 
the first occasion I had of seeing an Egyptian woman's 
face, and as I was now treated with so ample a view of 
several I was too much pleased with the sight before me. 



CAIE0. 



57 



to show any signs of anger in return for the manner in 
which they had greeted my accidental passage through 
their unfrequented quarter. 

There is yet another inconvenience in the streets, 
arising from disputes among the people, in which the 
women sometimes make a most conspicuous figure. We 
know sometimes to our cost, even in much more civilised 
countries, that when any of the least instructed of the 
fair sex are excited by some accident in their affairs, 
there is no want of the free organs of speech. But 
I protest that I clo not believe that in that country 
in Europe where the voices of the under-class women 
may be the most remarkable, there could be found a 
combat of tongues equal in force and rapidity, or accom- 
panied with more appropriate gestures, than among a 
coterie of Egyptian women, but more especially for the 
length of time that the row lasts, There is sometimes 
no little scolding among the men ; but their street 
quarrels occasionally end in embraces and mutual ac- 
knowledgments of the errors of which both parties have 
been guilty. 



58 



CHAPTER VII. 
caieo — -continued. 

A Lady from Tunis on her Pilgrimage to Mecca — Sad Condition of the 
Mussulman Women — The British Consul's Encampment in the Desert — 
Heliopolis — Isle of Roda — The Nilometer — Ladies Biding. 

I was on one occasion riding in Cairo, accompanied by 
my dragoman, when our attention was attracted by per- 
ceiving a rather large concourse of people gathered about 
the gateway of a court, and around a four-wheeled car- 
riage. It was the first vehicle I had seen since my 
arrival, and, by the closeness with which its curtains were 
drawn, it seemed ready to receive some ladies going 
out for a drive. We therefore stopped in the hope of 
getting a view of the dresses, at least, of the fair damsels, 
who there could be no doubt were of quality, in their 
passage from the court to the carriage. I was, how- 
ever, disappointed, for all we saw was a large wooden 
box or case brought out of the court and deposited in the 
crimson-curtained vehicle, and which contained one at 
least of the sacredly guarded sex. Not a glimpse was of 
course to be seen of what imagination might easily have 
painted as one of the agreeable and beauteous damsels of 
Mahomet's Paradise. We found out, however, upon 
inquiry after the carriage had set off, that the case only 
contained an old lady from Tunis, who was on her pil- 
grimage to Mecca. Very interesting, no doubt, would be 



CAIRO. 



59 



the history of such a character, and the incidents of her 
journey, with the special motive for which it was under- 
taken, were it possible to obtain them. 

To what a condition in society, to what a state of 
wretchedness must the women of the country be reduced, 
where the very free air is denied them, save on rare oc- 
casions, and under such a guard as a Christian can scarcely 
with delicacy name ! Such is here the condition of the 
sex naturally the gentle partner of man, the sharer of his 
enjoyments in prosperity, and his comforter in the hour 
of adversity. Had this state of things been proclaimed 
but yesterday, the whole civilised world might to-day 
have joined in a crusade, to abolish the edicts of the op- 
pressors. But it does not require long foresight to per- 
ceive, that, should the general peace be maintained, the 
increase of Europeans in these countries will introduce 
knowledge, and that the institutions of more enlightened 
people will force their entrance with them; and this 
is itself a strong argument for the maintenance of peace 
in Europe. But such thoughts upon these subjects, as 
must strike a temporary sojourner in this barbarised 
land, will doubtless find a better opportunity for expres- 
sion by-and-by. 

Her British Majesty's consul had an encampment in 
the desert, in which he passed the nights during the 
warmer season, and I had the pleasure one evening of ac- 
companying him to his seat of repose. The spot was 
further distant from the town than would be at all times 
safe for a European's night quarters without a strong guard 
or a couple of Bedouins who had influence over their tribe ; 
such, however, was the respect or terror with which the 
character of our consul had inspired the restless prowlers, 
that he alone of all the Europeans in Egypt was able to 
sleep tranquilly upon the desert, without any especial 



60 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



guard, and at a Ml hour's ride without the walls of 
Cairo. 

You no sooner leave the tombs immediately without 
the gates of the town, than you find yourself abroad 
upon the unsheltered sterile desert. Along the valley of 
the Nile there is often a range of rocky hills, from two to 
four miles distant from the bounds of vegetation, which 
in some places approaches very near the river, and this 
intermediate space has generally hills and plains which 
have often the appearance of having been once wholly 
or partially overflowed. 

Our consuls camp was situated east of the city, upon 
the first elevations, with a noble view of the fertile valley 
of Cairo, and the towering citadel which surmounts the 
town, with all the dusky hills which on both sides of the 
river present the greatest contrast with the fertile and 
peopled banks of the Nile on either side. The riding 
was remarkably good, and the natural road, without a 
day's labour ever having been bestowed upon it, was 
superior for carriages of any sort to the majority of the 
roads in many parts of Europe, upon which labour has 
been for ages expended. 

As we proceeded we saw a caravan and appurtenances, 
which halted within a quarter of a mile of our direct 
way; we therefore deviated from our course that we 
might see what they were, and we found them to be a 
party of Bedouins, with eight or ten camels loaded with 
charcoal, on their way to Cairo ; but they did not intend 
entering the city before the next morning. The chief of 
the party offered us coffee, their constant beverage ; but, 
believing there was none made, and not liking to lose 
time while it was preparing, the consul excused our 
taking any on account of our great haste and the delay 
it would occasion, at which the half-wild men seemed 



CA1E0. 



61 



much disappointed. Soon after this we saw another en- 
campment on the side of some higher hills, and which 
was doubtless composed of the same people, but we did 
not approach them. 

As we proceeded the consul pointed out to me the 
visible passage by which a stream of water had some 
years since found its way from the elevated lands to the 
Nile, after a heavy shower of rain, which is a rare pheno- 
menon in this part of Egypt. 

Soon after this we approached the consul's encampment, 
the site for which had been chosen on account of one 
object only, the cool air. While the thermometer at 
Cairo was ranging from 95° to 105°, it was not here above 
80° ; but the consul's intention was, as soon as the weather 
became cooler, to change his situation, and take up his 
quarters under the shelter of the hills upon which he was 
now encamped. 

The camp consisted of four ample tents ; one of these 
contained the dining and sitting-room, and was furnished 
with divans ; another was the consul's sleeping tent ; 
and the two remaining were for the servants and for 
culinary purposes. 

The greatest inconvenience that the party experienced 
here was from the prevalence of horned snakes, one of 
which monstrous creatures had got into the sleeping tent 
only a few nights before this, but had been immediately 
discovered by the clogs, and killed with little difficulty. 

After an agreeable afternoon spent in the desert, I re- 
turned with my dragoman and seize to Cairo, where we 
arrived before the gates were closed ; but, before enter- 
ing, we observed that the air was filled with large bats 
upon the wing. 

I rode out one morning to the site of Heliopolis. No- 
thing now appears to remain of that ancient seat of learn- 



G2 



TEAT ELS IX EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Log save an obelisk, upon which are inscribed a few charac- 
ters, and the base of a second obelisk which remains by its 
side. These are now found in a garden of pomegranates 
and olives, and derive their interest from being among the 
oldest works of art that are extant in the world. 

About a quarter of a mile from the obelisk, there is a 
grove of sycamore and acacias, with a variety of the trees 
of the country, and in the midst of this grove stand six 
or seven trunks of the picturesque sycamore, combined 
in one. from which a new growth healthily shoots. 
To this tree and the spot on which it stands, is 
attached a tradition at least of great interest. It is 
believed by the Copts, upon the authority of the apocry- 
phal gospels, that under the shade of this very tree the 
holy family first reposed on their arrival in Egypt, when 
they fled from Palestine, to escape the massacre of the 
infant Jesus, by Herod. That the particular tree should 
not have survived for so many centuries is not a con- 
sideration sufficient to discredit the circumstance of 
the family having reposed here, and taken shelter under 
the shade of such tree or trees as were then standing. It 
is the very spot of Egypt where travellers from Palestine, 
while fatigued and weary, would most assuredly first 
come to from the desert. Heliopolis was then doubtless 
in the decline of its rank among the cities of Egypt, and 
as such, more likely to be the abiding-place of the holy 
family than Memphis, which was then the capital, and 
which was on the opposite side of the Nile. 

A few days after this, I visited the gardens which were 
formed by Ibrahim Pasha upon the Isle of Eoda. a little 
above Bulac. These gardens are spacious and laid out 
in the English style, under the entire superintendence of 
an Englishman, who had been many years in the service 
of the Pasha. Here you might walk along the winding 



CAIRO. 



63 



paths fringed with box, until you could believe yourself 
in one of our finest gardens at home. But their chief 
interest to northern people is, that you see the natural 
productions of the colder regions here as exotics, and 
those which are exotic with us, growing with the splendour 
of our elrn, our walnut, and our horse-chestnut. It was 
curious to see the spreading leaves and seemingly unna- 
tural appearance of the oak, which appeared to be the 
peculiar object of the superintendent's care. But the 
garden is not safe from the inundations of the river during 
an over-abundant flow of its waters ; and, in a late season, 
no less than 30,000 trees had been undermined and car- 
ried away. 

By the banks of this island is placed the Nilometer, by 
which the height of the waters of the Kile is at all times 
nicely ascertained, and the prospect of the harvests, which 
depend upon the supply of water from the river, foreseen. 

While the street in which I lived at Cairo was by no 
means crowded, the tramp of the donkeys with their gaily- 
dressed male riders, or concealed riders of the other sex, 
so highly mounted that their feet did not descend lower 
than the donkey's shoulders, was unceasing. The shape- 
less bulk, indeed, of one of the fair sex makes much more 
the appearance of a bale of merchandise than of a human 
figure. Besides these, come donkeys in droves ; those 
going in one direction loaded with skins of water from 
the Nile, and keeping a steady pace, and those on the 
other side returning at a full scamper, and driven by a 
single man who follows upon one of the best of the ani- 
mals with a whip in his hand, the smack of which keeps 
all moving at a pace that would overthrow every woman 
with a burden upon her head, and every blind man they 
might meet, had the animal no more sagacity than the 
ass of Europe. 



64 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



Camels are also seen passing incessantly, loaded or not 
loaded with, merchandise, and usually in strings of twenty 
or thirty, and under the conduct of three or four drivers, 
who usually ride. They are the most quiet animals when 
passing through the streets ; for though I cannot extol 
their patience at all times, they do not make any opposi- 
tion or noise, except when lying with their legs bound 
upon the ground while being loaded, and then only when 
they are fully charged, upon which they struggle and 
moan for the cords that always bind their limbs at this 
time to be unbound that they may rise, and their just 
demand is immediately obeyed. 

Horses rarely carry burdens in the streets of Cairo, but 
are commonly kept only for pleasure or pomp ; but their 
neighing when in the streets is loud and frequent. 

The streets about the bazaars are so thronged for the 
two chief business days in the week as to be almost im- 
passable. But even on ordinary days one of these has 
every class of persons in great numbers, the poorer 
women and men on foot, the more independent citizens, 
who ride donkeys, and a few of the higher class who 
ride horses ; while in the shops or mustabahs on either 
side sit the artisans and salesmen, smoking and generally 
sipping coffee with an air as unconcerned as if they were 
away from the seat of their proper transactions. 



65 



C H APT E E VIII. 

cairo — continued. 

Medical Institution — Military Hospital — The Ancient Fortress of Babylon- 
Coptic Churches — Great Poverty — Pleasantries — Printing Establishment 
— Taxes upon Dragomans and Cooks. 

I visited, while at Cairo, a medical institution, which 
had lately been established for the instruction of the 
natives, and very properly put under French superinten- 
dence ; but as its library, which was not mean in the 
quantity or quality of the books, was yet wholly French, 
one of the students who spoke that language informed 
me that it had not yet been found of much utility, 
for very few out of twenty-five members, their whole 
number, had more than a slight knowledge of that 
tongue. They have also a lecture-room, not inferior to 
the chief room in the Sorbonne at Paris ; but the lectures 
being also in French, it cannot be supposed that much 
more progress could be making through this means of 
instruction than by the books. 

On the same day I visited the military hospital, which 
is a spacious and well-aired, but not well-cleaned, build- 
ing. The apartment appropriated for persons afflicted 
with diseases of the eye, the predominant complaints in 
Egypt, was that alone which had any number of tenants. 
The most striking deficiency of this establishment is the 
want of female nurses. What an instance does this 
afford of the low condition of a society in which the 

F 



66 



TEAYELS IX EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



women have not yet been sufficiently raised to be trusted 
with an occupation which certainly requires a degree of 
tenderness, humanity and patience, very rarely to be 
found among any class of the opposite sex ! 

At a short distance south of Cairo is the ancient 
fortress of Babylon. It is now, in fact, a small walled 
town, that may have formerly contained three or four 
thousand inhabitants, but at this time it cannot contain 
more than as many hundreds. The streets are from three 
to five paces in breadth, and the houses which have not 
crumbled away are high, but on account of then- having 
so few windows, it is impossible to count the stories, 
though to judge from the outward appearance they do 
not exceed four or five. 

During a walk here of about twenty or thirty minutes, 
we saw no inhabitants save a man with a donkey and 
skins of water, and an Arab sitting with a pipe on a 
bench before what had certainly been a shop. We in- 
quired of this man what steps we should take to get 
admission to the Coptic churches, which we understood 
were to be found in the fortress, and were directed to 
proceed about fifty yards further, where we found several 
Copts, who immediately procured the keys from the 
deacon. 

The first church which we entered was a small building 
in which there was nothing remarkable, save that it was 
divided into departments by close wooden lattice- work, 
in order to separate the sexes, which do not sit together 
in any of the eastern churches. 

In the body of the church, facing the altar or cabinet 
(in which the officiating priest is visible only through a 
window), there are many pictures of apostles, angels, and 
saints, of evident antiquity, and some which appeared to 
me little inferior to the gems in a most extraordinary col- 



CAIRO. 



lection which is to be seen at Berlin. There were fanciful 
legends attached to several ; but the difficulty which 
my interpreters found in rendering the Arab of these 
people into a European language, prevented my under- 
standing as much as I desired of the information the Copts 
appeared very ready to impart. We descended, however, 
into a grot below, where I was more interested with what 
they told us. There was here an apartment of about 
14 ft. by 10 ft., supported by marble pillars, and at one 
end there were three recesses. We each carried a candle, 
and the guide, after taking us to the opposite end to that 
at which we entered, pointed out a round piece of marble 
with a cross wrought upon it, and set in a slab of stone. 
The simplicity of these Egyptians may be here conceived. 
This very cross, our guide informed us, was formed here 
by the Virgin Mary when in Egypt ; and in a recess on 
the other side we were shoAvn a font which they informed 
us was that in which our Saviour was baptized. 

When we came from within this grot, our feelings were 
moved by what is everywhere painful to behold. A 
number of miserable mendicants were seated in a row 
on either side of the lane. They did not even get up 
from the ground when they first saw us ; but, finding 
themselves less quickly relieved than they had perhaps 
expected, those who were able to rise without assistance, 
surrounded us. Y\ r e counted them, for I knew by expe- 
rience that it would be productive of more evil than good 
to give them, without some arrangement, what could not 
be equally divided on the spot.. There were three-and- 
twenty human beings, chiefly women, some bent down 
with age, crippled, almost naked, full of sores, and appa- 
rently starving. I never had any conception of poverty 
in its extreme until then. My dragoman had, of course, 
orders to relieve them, as he might most conveniently, 



68 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



without disregarding prudence ; and what I found the 
next day that he had given, made me wish that he 
had been more generous. 

There could be no doubt that the greater part of the 
poor people about the Coptic church were suffering from 
hunger, for I found upon inquiry that some of the women 
whom I had taken for near seventy years of age could not 
have lived much above half that time, and we were 
informed that one of the eldest looking, had lost a child 
at the breast only a few weeks since. Few, indeed, of 
this class of the Egyptians, whatever may be their religion, 
have the smallest idea of their own age ; and many know 
not even anything of the division of the year, save from the 
imposition upon them to fast, and, what is worse for the 
Mussulmans, to abstain from smoking during the daytime 
for one whole month. There is no provision for the poor 
among the Copts, and in a neighbourhood where there is 
little commerce and all is decaying, the aged and most 
wretched cling to their miserable hovels, until they perish 
by slow degrees from want or the loathsome diseases 
thereby engendered. Yet is this the most fruitful coun- 
try on earth, once feeding 7,000,000 of inhabitants, now 
reduced to 2,000,000, for an acre of ground will here 
produce three, or even four times as much as an acre in 
England. 

We visited another church within the fortress. The 
pulpit here struck us as curious, and was evidently of 
great antiquity. It was formed of upright stripes of white 
marble set in alabaster, and was said to be 1,800 years old. 
Opposite the pulpit there were several marble pillars, and 
upon one was a mark that might have been made by a 
hammer, and about which, at a hand's breadth, the marble, 
which was elsewhere blue, was bright and white. By the 
side of this pillar, our Copt guide informed us, the Virgin 



CAIRO. 



69 



once stood, holding a conversation with a priest who was 
beneath the pulpit opposite, and that the glory which was 
reflected from the Virgin upon the marble had thus marked 
it. I did not inquire how many kisses a week the marble 
attracted, nor suggest that this was the cause of its 
brightness. Considering the reported age of the pillar, 
however, the marble should be much harder, or pressed 
with human lips much less often, than that of the black 
statue of St, Peter at Eome, a portion of the foot of 
which has been kissed away. 

On the road from this ancient fortress, we came to an 
immense roofless mosque. It has a colonnade, however, 
around it, which is roofed, and a covered and paved place 
at the end opposite to the entrance, where there is a pul- 
pit. The columns, which are of stone, are innumerable, 
but only two of them are at all remarkable. These 
are placed near the entrance, with a space between 
them just sufficient to admit of a moderate-sized man 
squeezing himself through ; and . it is pleasantly* said, that 
your condition hereafter will depend upon whether you 
can pass between these columns or not, and that those 
who cannot pass are too gross to pass through the narrow 
gate above, and therefore will not enter into Paradise. It 
was extremely agreeable to find anything amusing mixed 
with the grave and gloomy reflections generally connected 
with the Mussulman faith. My interpreter and myself 
passed between the two columns without much difficulty; 
but the seize who was with us had some trouble in 
following, and thus created serious doubts about his 
entrance into the happier state above. 

The Eomanists have their pleasantries of the carnival, 
when a priest sometimes gets a few thumps in mere sport, 
and may even be caricatured ; and w T e Protestants eat 
plum-pudding and pan-cakes at seasons the church has 



70 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



appointed for especial joy, and, to the surprise of many 
a Eomanist, cross-buns on Good Friday. 

But setting aside the festivals of marriage and circum- 
cision, there is little to relieve the philosophic tone which 
the unity of God and the simplicity of Mahometan prayer 
inspire, unless the extravagant exploits of the dervises, 
who are mere fanatics, may be considered an exception. 

It sometimes falls to the lot of a traveller to be struck 
by the absence of what he expected to see, as well as by 
the impression of what he does see, and should he often 
sit down to describe his disappointment, he might some- 
times have as much difficulty in comprehending what he 
really expected to see, as some critics have had in con- 
ceiving what the poet meant by & an aching void,' which 
nevertheless seems to have a very clear moral significa- 
tion, however difficult it might be to conceive an empty 
space experiencing the sensation which should belong to 
material living substances alone. I will here mention 
that a few days before I left the metropolis of the British 
Empire, I visited the establishment, and witnessed the 
operations of the different departments, in which one of 
our newspapers is published. A few days after my 
arrival in the capital of Egypt, I inspected the chief 
printing establishment of the government, that is, of the 
Pasha. A humorous pen might here revel in the full 
glory of description ; but such it is not in my power to 
wield. It must therefore suffice to say, that in one of 
several spacious apartments, 'with all the appliances and 
means' to print, stood a group of men engaged in conver- 
sation with a compositor, who, now and then, in spite of 
his more interesting occupation of joining in conversation 
with the party about him, did, it was plain, hit upon the 
right letter the first dip. Yet this useful servant of the 
public and the little ' devil ' by his side were certainly the 



CAIRO, 



71 



only persons occasionally occupied with anything save 
conversation during a full half-hour that we were in the 
room. 

In the next apartment there were several presses. Some 
were at rest, but two were engaged in printing sheets with 
lines to form books, to keep, we were told, the soldiers' 
accounts ; and of these books there were already piles in 
the adjoining office. Upon inquiry whether we could 
procure a newspaper, if that homely name be not a misno- 
mer here, we were directed to a small apartment, where 
we found about a dozen writers seated upon the ground 
engaged in composition or corrections. We informed 
them of our wishes, and requested that we might be al- 
lowed to purchase one of the last papers printed ; but 
they informed us that there had not been a paper struck 
off within the last fortnight, and that there might not be 
another for the next week or more; and upon their being 
told that the precise date was of no importance, we were 
handed the last number, which was a small sheet, so openly 
printed, that it probably did not contain more than three 
pages of one of our octavo volumes of full-sized type. But 
even this they could not, they said, sell or give away, 
though we were at liberty to sit down and read it if we 
thought proper. This, however, as it was of course in 
Arabic, was beyond my power, nor was it the object for 
which I had come to the office, so we thanked them for 
their politeness and retired. 

The circulation of this paper was confined to the Pashas 
and other persons of distinction in the country, and the 
object of it was merely to inform the viceroy's subjects of 
the higher class, what it might be his pleasure should be 
known to them. 

A person in the service of the government came to my 
house some little time after I was established in my 



72 



TKAYELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



dwelling in Cairo, to demand of my dragoman and my 
cook something between ten and twenty piastres each, 
which was the amount, in either case, of the tax that was 
levied upon them for the year. The dragoman, however, 
who was in reality one of the janizaries attached to the 
British consulate, was, by the result of a contest between 
Mr. Walne, while consul, and the Pasha, exempt from 
taxation, which was very easily explained. But the poor 
cook, I found, was to have the bastinado the next time 
the tax-gatherer called, if the money was not then paid. 
The question, therefore, was only whether he was to have 
an advance of his wages from me, or suffer this punish- 
ment, which I found very easy to settle. 



73 



CHAPTER IX, 

THE PYRAMIDS OF EL-GHIZEH* 

Pass the River with Donkeys — The Country— The Approach to the Pyramids 
— The Dimensions of the Grandest — Ascent — A Traveller's Impressions — ■ 
Chamber in the Interior — Bats. 

I took an early opportunity, after I was settled in the 
capital of Egypt, to make a visit to those stupendous 
"works of men's hands, the Pyramids of El-Ghizeln They 
stand about eight miles south-west of Cairo, on the oppo- 
site side of the Nile, and about three miles from the banks 
of the river* My dragoman hired donkeys, which are 
better than horses for this expedition, on account of the 
necessity of passing the river, and the want of shelter for 
the nobler animal in the vicinity of the monuments. We 
crossed the river above the island of Eoda, and after 
having passed by no less than three villages, at length 
reached the limit of the cultivable land. This is sepa- 
rated from the great Libyan desert by a rocky and irre- 
* gular elevation, upon the firm table of which stand these 
mighty relics of the past, little changed in outward con- 
dition since the day when the slaves of the tyrant who 
erected them placed the last stone upon their summits. 

These objects of wonder may of course be seen from 
any distance within about sixty miles, when the view is 
not obstructed by high lands ; but they by no means im- 
press the traveller who approaches them with their mag- 



74 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



nitude, which a nearer survey enables him to discover ; 
and this seems to be on account of the colour of the stone 
of which they are constructed, which agrees, as nearly 
as can be, with almost everything in Egypt that is 
not green. You may stand on the walls of the citadel at 
Cairo, and survey the rich valley of the Nile above and 
below, hill and plain, extensive repositories of the dead, 
ruined mosques, palaces and pyramids ; but as the 
traveller approaches these last-named wonders, he will lose 
sight of them, by reason of the walled sides of the elevated 
ground upon which they stand ; but this will enable him 
the better to estimate their grandeur when they again 
present themselves to his view. 

After losing sight of the pyramids we reached the base 
of the high ground, which we ascended by gravelly paths 
until we came to its summit. We were then within sight 
of them, and at a short distance from the base of the 
largest. Although the traveller may have seen them 
all from the Nile, from the citadel of Cairo, and from the 
desert on the opposite side of the river, this will be the 
first moment that he will receive any true impression of 
their vastness. As we drew near the largest pyramid, I 
was at every step struck more and more with the magni- 
tude of the stupendous whole ; but it was not until I 
placed my hand upon the stones which form the first step, 
that I was filled with a degree of wonder, for which I was 
not from the beginning prepared. 

The vast stones which form the steps of this 
pyramid are at the base about four feet in breadth, 
but of much greater length. As you mount, you 
find them notched at the sides, to aid the ascent, and 
they diminish in size towards the top. The full height 
of this pyramid at present is 450 feet, but this is said to be 
thirty feet lower than its original height, while the full 



THE PYRAMIDS OF EL-GHIZEH. 



75 



length of its base is 760 feet, and each side, as is the case 
with many other pyramids, is turned towards one of the 
cardinal points. 

The act, nevertheless, of mounting is not very easy to 
any stranger without the assistance of the Arabs. About 
half-way from the base to the pinnacle, some stones have 
been removed, thus affording a convenient platform to 
repose ; and from this, our guides informed us that an 
Englishman some time since threw himself, and of course 
dashed out his brains. I approached the edge of the 
step to perceive whether the elevation appeared sufficiently 
perpendicular to admit of a roll to the bottom ; but the 
Arabs, when they saw me stand, by no means too near, 
while examining the descent without speaking, asked the 
dragoman whether he conducted an Englishman, and 
being answered in the affirmative, they cautioned him to 
have especial care of his charge ; upon hearing which I 
told him to assure them that my thoughts were occupied 
with other reflections than those of staining the granite 
with my gore, and that I rather wished to carry my bones 
to my own country for interment. Yet I have known 
men so like the one above mentioned, that I would not 
recommend them to mount this pyramid if they were 
near it. But we continued our labours until we arrived 
at the summit, where we found enough of the stones dis- 
placed to give us ample room to seat ourselves, and ob- 
serve the novel prospect around. 

The tourist is here carried back to the remote ages in 
the history of the human race. What a comment is the 
monument on which he sits upon the vanity of human 
hopes ! The greatest undertaking of a people once the 
foremost in the arts, and in whatever attends civilisation 
generally, is now beneath his feet. A work perhaps ex- 
hibiting the effects of the greatest amount of labour and 



76 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



mechanical ingenuity that the world owes, here remains 
without any certain record of its founder, its date, its pur- 
pose. The traveller who shall stand upon the pinnacle 
of this mighty fabric, with the great portion of the world 
over which he has wandered to arrive here, present to 
his memory, will be overwhelmed with strange and varied 
thoughts. The most impressive pages in the volumes of 
the past history of the world will crowd upon his memory, 
but his aspirations will end with the melancholy reflections 
which the gloomy scenes around abundantly furnish. If 
he look in the direction of the west, his furthest vision 
will comprehend but the compass of a day's journey across 
the unaltered desert, extending from the fertile valley of 
the Nile to the utmost limits of the ancient world, still in- 
habited by the fierce beasts of prey, often its only tenants ; 
and if he look towards the east, the same scene, varied 
only by the narrow valley which is watered and fertilised 
by the Nile, will present itself to his searching eye. The 
very soil that first produced the abundance, which 
gave to mankind the leisure to study, — the very 
plains where the first efforts of human industry pre- 
pared the world for the reception of science, which the 
Greek sages here acquired, and introduced into Europe, 
may be now seen lying incult, and exhibiting only the 
remains of those works of art which a degenerate race 
has been incapable of restoring. Between people now 
half-savage, and their rulers more barbarous than them- 
selves, no tie exists save a gross superstition which 
furnishes at once the rigid law, and compels a blind 
obedience and necessary submission. 

People of the north-west, wherefore your jealousies, 
your contentions, your internal discontents ? Why those 
ruinous wars among yourselves, who should rather employ 
your energies in the extension of knowledge and all its 



THE PYRAMIDS OF EL-GIIIZEH. 



77 



blessings which you enjoy, and in giving light to the east, 
and relieving the sufferings of millions oppressed by super- 
stitions which can alone be removed by advance in know- 
ledge and the pursuit of the industrious occupations which 
produce independence and ease ? 

What an effort of human labour are these wonders of 
the world — these pyramids ! What a variety of sensations 
attends the contemplation of that dark history which the 
survey of them discloses ! A people, the children of Ham, 
in the days of Abraham (for the learned suppose that 
the pyramids were building or built when the great 
Patriarch of the Hebrews was in Egypt), dwelt here under 
regular government, however rude by reason of the vices 
and follies of their rulers, yet evidently such as to throw 
by combination all or much of their industry together. 

Several conclusions concerning this people may, at 
least, with some degree of probability be drawn. The in- 
habitants of Egypt, when the pyramids were built, must 
have been acquainted with agriculture, or the workmen 
could not have been fed, and they must have been united 
under a monarchical form of government, and the power 
of the sovereigns must have been exercised with what we 
should at present call tyranny. But beyond these facts it 
does not seem that anything more than vague conjecture 
can be hazarded. Yet among the conjectures concerning 
the purpose of these great works, that which is the most 
popular seems the least liable to objection : that they 
were to be severally the sepulchres of their founders, 
the grandest, though not materially larger than the others 
that are near to it, being intended for the repository of 
the body of its founder, supposed by Herodotus to be 
Cheops. 

Before descending from the top of this stupendous 
work of men's hands, we examined the stones about us, 



78 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



some of which are said to be a ton in weight, though 
they were much smaller than those below them. The 
platform upon which they lay in disorder, was about ten 
paces square. 

On our way down, we visited the chambers in the in- 
terior of the pyramid, which are nearer the base than the 
summit. On a platform before the entrance we lighted 
tapers, and entered their dark mouth, descending. To 
attain the principal chamber we were obliged to force our 
way by climbing upon our hands and knees, and here we 
were a little inconvenienced by the bats that flew by us 
from where the faintest ray of the sun's beams could never 
have entered since the pyramid was built. That any 
creature existing can see in the dark, there can be no doubt 
is impossible. Nevertheless, in this chamber, into which 
no light can penetrate, bats dwell ; and I wish to ask the 
student in physics how the bats confined to chambers 
where light never enters live, and what is their food. 

The principal chamber, which our guide informed us 
contained for many centuries the remains of Cheops, was 
about twenty feet from the floor to the roof, and about 
twelve yards long, and six or eight wide. 

After our full descent from the pyramid, we examined 
the famous Sphinx, which is, I believe, the most colossal of 
all the statues that remain of the works of the ancients ; 
but as its portrait is everywhere exhibited, I need not 
say more than that its height is 188 feet, which will give 
sufficient idea of its magnitude. 




79 



CHAPTEE X. 
cairo — continued. 

My Dragoman's Distress — Causes — 111 Conduct of a Bey and the Pasha — 
The Rite of Circumcision — Procession of a Young Lady before Marriage 
— Also the Gentleman — An ordinary Funeral. 

My dragoman came to me, on the morning after our visit 
to the pyramids, much cast down and depressed by some- 
thing that must have happened since I parted with him 
on the preceding evening. I asked him whether he had 
seen an apparition, for I happened to know, that if it 
were so, it would not be the first time he had been so 
fortunate. Ghosts indeed, and the ghost of the potent 
prince of the bad angels in particular, are more familiar 
with these people than with us. 

e Your Excellency knows that I am not among the 
most superstitious of the Egyptians,' said the dragoman. 

' I believe that there are few Egyptians less so,' I re- 
plied. 6 But what evil hath the night engendered ? A 
criminal between two soldiers on the way to receive the 
bastinado at the citadel could not look more sad than 
you look now.' 

4 Your Excellency has touched the true string of my 
troubles,' said the dragoman. 

6 What ! have you to receive, or have you received, the 
bastinado ? ' 

' Oh, no, not myself, but in effect, the same. A consul's 



80 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



janizary has been beaten past recovery. He is expected 
to die in the course of the day/ 

6 One of the consul's janizaries ? ' 

4 Oh ! not one of the British consul's. 

6 And pray whose ? ' 

£ A servant, a janizary, may no longer defend his master,' 
said the dragoman, occupied more with his own reflections 
than attentive to the interrogative put to him, 6 and I fear 
the same might have occurred with the janizary of the 
English or French consul, though I have trusted, for my 
safety with yourself, that I might consider myself still in 
the service of the English consul, with whom I have lived 
so long.' Then after a pause, which I did not disturb, 
he added, 

' It was the Italian consul's janizary of whom I was 
speaking.' 

He then related to me the particulars of this affair, 
and as I have heard no account of it more consistent or 
which greatly differs from his, I shall report what he in- 
formed me. It will, at least, show the impression on the 
minds of the janizaries of the different consuls, who are 
the parties the most interested in the discovery of the 
truth concerning what passed. 

The principal persons in the matter are, the Bey, who 
is superintendent of the department of the customs at 
Bulac, before mentioned as the port or landing-place for 
the capital, and the consul, already mentioned, of his 
Majesty the King of Italy, and the janizary so shamefully 
beaten. The cause which led to this last degree of 
insult that could be offered to a consul and to his 
nation, was a question of search which arose concerning 
a case the consul had received from Alexandria. Some 
new imposition had lately been demanded of the repre- 
sentative of our government here, which it required 



CAIRO. 



81 



English firmness in opposition to injustice to dispute, and 
the point having been ably contended for and successfully 
carried by the British consul, Mr. Walne, other consuls 
had become more jealous of their rights than before, and 
the Italian very naturally refused to permit a case ad- 
dressed to him to be examined even by the superinten- 
dent himself, who, being equally determined, declared 
his intention to detain it. The consul then tapped the 
Bey upon the hip with his cane, upon which the Bey 
drew his sword, and calling the consul a Christian dog, 
which is the most contemptuous epithet in the opinion of 
a Mussulman, and is that by which a Turk in his anger 
usually distinguishes a European, all the under- officers 
upon the spot immediately rushed upon the Christian dog, 
and were only prevented felling him to the ground by the 
superior tact and quickness of the janizary, who, with 
the courage of a free man, drew his sabre and warded 
off the blows aimed at the head of the consul — in fact, 
saved the Christian blood which would otherwise have 
been the issue of the dispute. 

Some violent language was now heaped upon the head 
of the janizary ; but the principals in the affair soon 
seemed to cool, and then separated ; — the Italian perhaps 
to consider the right and the wrong, and the point of 
honour involved in what had passed, and the Turk to 
nourish his revenge, and plan the safest means of putting 
it into execution, which, when done, became the cause 
of my dragoman's trouble. 

The Bey. it appears, immediately transmitted his version 
of the affair to the Pasha at Alexandria, and his highness, 
with the precipitate decision of a barbarian, without any 
inquiry into the truth of the affair, or considering it the 
best way of gratifying his vengeance upon the consul for 
the supposed insult offered to his officer, sent immediately 

G 



82 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



orders to seize the faithful janizary, and reward him for 
his fidelity with a thousand strokes of the bastinado ; in 
other words, to flog hiru till he should die, for few that 
are thus punished survive half that number of blows. 

The poor janizary, while alone in the streets, was art- 
fully seized by the soldiers and conducted to the citadel, 
where, since the execution of the Pasha's sentence, which 
took place two or three days ago, he still lives, but with 
faint hopes of recovery. 

Processions, which take place upon the celebration of 
the religious and social rights of the Egyptians, are very 
frequent in the streets of Cairo. The procession with a 
child to receive the right of circumcision passed by 
my windows one day, but I disclaim the intention 
of putting so faint a description as I am able to give 
of this ceremony, in the place of any given by more 
practised observers with better means of satisfying their 
readers' curiosity. 

While I was sitting on the divan in one of the window 
seats in my room, the kettle-drum and other instruments 
of music announced the approach of some noisy proces- 
sion, and my dragoman came into the room as he was ac- 
customed to do, in order to explain the meaning of what 
was passing in the best manner he was able. 

The first of the men that made his appearance was a 
soldier, and no doubt the father, or one who represented 
the father, of the child. He carried a cudgel of about 
five feet in length, and was followed by the barber, who 
was to be the operator upon the child, and about half a 
hundred shouting children and some men ; then came 
six or seven other soldiers, followed by musicians ; then 
the mother of the child and her female friends, ranged 
with a very little regard to processional order ; and next, 
a horse superbly caparisoned, upon which sat the infant, 



CAIRO. 



83 



who seemed to be about five years of age, dressed in a 
rich red robe, extravagantly covered with gold and silver 
ornaments, and a red cashmere turban decorated with 
artificial flowers. The horse was led by a seize, and 
the child, who was supported on either side by a 
soldier on foot, held a white pocket-handkerchief before 
his mouth, which I was informed was intended to cover 
a portion of the face, to avoid the effects of the evil eye, 
much dreaded in Egypt, and which it was supposed might 
be attracted by the infant's rich apparel. These were 
then followed by an indistinguishable crowd of women, 
ringing the air at intervals with an indescribable long 
shrill hilloo. 

When the most interesting portion of the procession 
was immediately before my window, the soldier in ad- 
vance turned to oppose its passage, and was met by one 
of those who followed. A sham display of the single- 
stick then took place, until the leaders of the party in 
advance appeared to prevail. Upon this the men around 
fell back and formed a circle, and the women formed 
another circle within them. The mother of the child 
then separated herself from the rest, and, with a pole in 
her hand, danced; and, although veiled like the rest, 
she was not very delicately dressed. The procession 
then again proceeded with loud shouts from the men, 
accompanied and followed by the shrill voices of the 
women. 

The degraded condition of the women of the East is 
well known to every inhabitant of a happier land, and 
this may be at all times seen in the streets of the Egyptian 
metropolis. At the time I am writing I have been more 
than a month in Cairo, and I have not yet seen the face 
of a single woman of any age in the street, nor any one 
from the window, save those by whom I was spitten upon. 

G 2 



84 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



The ladies leave their homes but rarely, and seem then 
to be commonly under the guard or protection of one or 
more of that unfortunate class of the once male sex, to 
whose custody they are intrusted. 

I shall next mention the procession with a young lady 
which precedes the ceremony of marriage, as it has 
appeared to me with my Arab guide by my side. It is 
one of the more frequent of the exhibitions which attract 
the attention of a stranger in the streets of Cairo, and 
has for its object the administration of the oath. This is 
performed at about an interval of a week after the con- 
tract of the marriage is signed ; a second procession takes 
place on the day of the wedding, to conduct the bride to 
the dwelling of the bridegroom. 

Foremost in the procession which I witnessed, rode 
two musicians upon the backs of camels, dressed in 
nothing but their drawers, and playing kettle-drums and 
hautboys ; next, in exact order, the married female rela- 
tives and friends of the betrothed girl, all of course veiled 
and wrapped in the usual habarah of black silk ; then a 
fellow dressed like a dervishe, with a long beard ; then a 
boy on horseback ; then men dressed as dancing girls, and 
next several young maidens and some children in white 
habarahs. These are followed by the betrothed, who is 
supported on either side by a female near relative, who 
occasionally fans her ; another attends behind, and over 
the heads of the quartette a canopy of silk of gay colours 
is carried by four men. 

The friends of the bride by her side are dressed 
precisely like those who precede them, and the bride is 
with the greatest care concealed from the eyes of every 
one. Upon her head is placed a high crown, which is 
covered with a fine shawl, concealing her whole person, 
so that her height can be only guessed. But if I 



CAIRO. 



85 



might judge by the apparent height of the shoulders of 
this maiden in comparison with those of the women of 
the procession, I should not believe, notwithstanding the 
precocious tendency of the climate, that she could be 
of a just marriageable age. This canopy with its charge 
usually closes the procession, yet sometimes two or more 
musicians follow, and sometimes several of the lower 
class of women, who sing, but whose shrill voices 
accord but ill with the spirit of the time. 

The women of Egypt, like the women of other coun- 
tries, take more delight in the modes and shows of re- 
joicing than the men do, The marriage procession of 
the gentleman must not, therefore, be expected to rival 
that of the lady. This takes place after the ceremony of 
the marriage, on the evening of the day that the bride 
is conducted by her fair friends to the apartments of the 
ladies in the bridegroom's dwelling, and before he has 
been permitted to have any interview with, or see, the 
bride unveiled. 

The whole of the ladies who have attended at the 
wedding sup with the bride in the harem of the bride- 
groom, and the bridegroom and his male friends sup in 
a lower apartment, where they remain until the eshct or 
hour of evening prayer, which takes place an hour 
and a half after sunset. The bridegroom then leaves his 
company, and is conducted to one of the mosques, and 
when his prayers are accomplished, returns home in 
procession. 

His way is now cleared by a torch-bearer, carrying 
upon the top of a pole an iron frame filled with burning 
chips ; then come six or eight musicians with hautboys 
and kettle-drums ; and these are followed by a double row 
of relatives and friends, and a few persons hired for the 
occasion, carrying lamps set in large bouquets of flowers, 



86 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



and occupying the space between the musicians and the 
bridegroom, who follows at the end. He is at this time 
robed entirely in red, wearing a cashmere shawl fitted 
like a gown, and a turban apparently of the like material, 
and is supported on either side by two relatives or friends 
habited precisely like himself. 

If I might judge of a bridegroom I saw by the light of 
the torches and lamps, of which there was no lack, I 
believe he could not have entered his sixteenth year. His 
two supporters seemed about the same age. But what 
was most remarkable, was his grave and gloomy counte- 
nance, while all the rest gave vent to expressions of joy, 
by adding their voices to the sounds of the instruments 
that preceded them. I asked of my guide how he could 
account for this, to which he replied, that it was doubtless 
the anxiety of the bridegroom, who perhaps distrusted 
the reports he had heard of the beauty of his unseen wife ; 
and when I observed that as the matrimonial ties were so 
loose in this country, that he could dissolve them to- 
morrow if he should think proper, my guide added, that 
that indeed was very true, but that at his tender age, no 
doubt this was not even contemplated, and that therefore 
he might be dreading the chance before him of spending 
his years in the society of a woman whom he might not 
like. 

6 Our European fashion,' I observed, 6 is better.' 

c It may be in some respects,' said my guide, £ but I 
should not like to think that if my wife displeased me 
I could not change her, or if she had brought me no 
children I could not add another to my establishment.' 

6 But if you had chosen that wife yourself, and been so 
fond of her before marriage, as most men are with us, do 
you think you would then have ever thought of an ex- 
change, or of adding another wife to your establishment ? ' 



CAIRO. 



87 



Here I endeavoured, but perhaps with little success, to 
make my guide a convert to the universal opinion among 
Europeans, that the affections between the sexes in Chris- 
tian countries are governed by sentiments very different 
from those which are known here. Such, indeed, can 
only be known by those whose lot it has been to be born 
in a country where the weaker sex is instructed like the 
stronger, and thus easily impressed with a sense of evil 
and good, is enabled to eat, drink, and associate at 
all times with the world, without losing a particle of 
modesty, or any consequences happening to render it even 
necessary to conceal the face, or seek the seclusion of 
detached apartments. 

6 But when one of your wives gets old ? ' said my 
guide. 

e Why, then the virtue of our arrangement,' I replied, 6 is 
even more apparent. We do not usually marry women 
of our own age. We like, if possible, to have our wives 
several years younger than ourselves ; but in all cases 
where the proper sentiment has taken place at a lit age 
the affections of youth beget an attachment in middle age, 
that endures to the extremest term of life.' 

My guide, no doubt, did not understand this ; but as he 
kept silence, rather perhaps from respect than from con- 
viction, I was glad of the opportunity of ending a discus- 
sion, too much of which I may have reported. 

I shall next notice , the procession at an ordinary funeral. 
Interments here are attended at all times by six or eight 
men, several of whom are blind. At the first which I 
attended, I learned from my guide that it was the custom 
to choose blind men for mourners, who were thus able to 
earn something by a very easy means. This party precedes 
the coffin, each of the blind men putting one hand upon 
the shoulder of one of the mourners who can see. 



88 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Next to these, follow two or three boys carrying a copy 
of the Koran upon a frame well covered with drapery ; 
then the bier, borne by four men in much the same style 
as at ordinary Christian burials, and in several instances 
I observed the wives, slaves, and servants of the departed, 
following ; yet there seemed to be but little variation, 
except such as might arise from the narrow circumstances, 
and consequent mean apparel of the mourners, 



89 



CHAPTEE XL 
cairo — continued. 

Establishment for Insane Persons — The Difficulty of Entering a Court of 
Justice in Cairo — Authorised Feast of Cats — A Mussulman and his 
Three Wives. 

Egypt is not without its share of that portion of our 
fellow-creatures who exist without the distinguishing 
attribute of humanity, our common reason ; and there is 
a mosque in Cairo, called the mosque of the madmen, to 
which is attached what should be an asylum for this 
unhappy class of human beings. It stands in a very 
crowded part of the town, and has a court within it of 
about twenty paces in length and fifteen in breadth, with 
a large bath in the middle, and chambers, or more pro- 
perly dungeons, on all sides, appropriated for the reception 
of those who suffer from this greatest of human ills. These 
apartments are separate, and have no other apertures to 
admit the air or the light than their fronts, which face the 
court, and have strong iron bars before them. Behind 
the bars sit or stand, chained, these unfortunates, and 
occasionally thrusting their arms and legs and a part 
of their heads between the bars ; their occupation, while 
we were there, was begging for bread and devouring 
some that was thrown to them. They were all indeed 
chained by the neck, and from their appearance, could not 
have been washed for some months, and the dungeons were 



90 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



full of the most loathsome filth. The part of the keeper 
and the company here was precisely that of the showmen 
and visitors at the lowest itinerant exhibition of wild 
beasts in our country. The keeper walked about to 
warn the spectators not to approach too near the bars, 
for many of them seemed to receive exactly the same 
enjoyment that our exhibitions of wild beasts excite. 

All the maniacs were rather young men, and were 
without clothes; but the want of clothes is too common 
in Egypt to be very remarkable, and upon inquiry we 
found that the unhappy men would tear up every article 
of clothing immediately it was given them. We inquired 
of the chief keeper how long the poor men generally lived 
after confinement, and he informed us that few lived 
above a year, and many less than a month ; and, should 
it be otherwise, he said he did not know what could be 
clone with those that came, for the place even now was 
too small for those that occupied it, and had obliged 
him, in several instances, to put two, which was not 
usually done, into one cell, but these were chained 
sufficiently far apart to prevent them reaching each other. 
The place, indeed, it is certain, is precisely that which we 
might suppose would turn any one labouring under any 
nervous affliction, in a short time, quite mad; and we 
found that in all instances the unhappy beings here 
became by degrees worse and worse. 

One of the poor men appeared to be less afflicted than 
the greater part of the others. He wept when he was 
looked at, and uttered some phrases which were not 
understood, and upon inquiry we found that he believed 
that he had committed a murder, which it was well known 
he had not. But this, the keeper informed us, was but the 
commencement of his disease, which in a few weeks or less 
would become raving madness. 



CAIRO. 



91 



Another man put himself into attitudes which seemed 
as if he were about to commit some frightful crime, and 
the keeper informed us he had killed three of his own 
children. 

As we left the painful scene, the keeper inquired of me 
whether we had any necessity for such places in European 
countries ; and in reply to this he was informed, what I 
believed to be our condition, with the best accounts I 
could give of the treatment of such afflicted persons, and 
of its effects, and I was persuaded I was right in stating, 
that cases similar to that of the weeping man we had just 
seen, had sometimes been radically cured. Upon this the 
apparently worthy man expressed some astonishment, and 
he said he wished he could travel and inspect our institu- 
tions. 

My dragoman had been some days trying whether it 
was possible to obtain permission to enter the chief court 
of justice in Cairo, but without success, when I deter- 
mined to try the effect of a surprise upon the door-keeper, 
in order, if possible, to witness the manner in which jus- 
tice was administered, amidst a population apparently so 
rude and unrestrained as that of the capital of Egypt. 
After threading populous streets, and dark and narrow 
lanes, we came into a square of larger dimensions than 
any I had before seen in the town, and on one side of 
which there was a gallery extending along the square, 
which was about twenty paces in breadth. We ascended 
to this gallery by broad steps, and found it occupied by 
about a hundred of the accused, criminals, as we were 
informed, of various degrees, from the felon to the disobe- 
dient or incontinent wife. We passed very leisurely by 
them without attracting any of that attention which some- 
times disconcerts or inconveniences strangers on foot in 
Cairo, in such quarters especially as are not much frequented 



92 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



by Europeans ; and, after ascending another flight of 
stone steps, we found ourselves in a lobby, which was 
not much unlike that which many buildings of the larger 
dimensions have in Europe. But here, at least, we did 
not fail to attract attention, when two of the guards, who 
were sitting on the ground, rose, and one of them demanded 
our business rather rudely, until a second perusal of the 
guide, who was as well armed and better dressed than 
himself, with at the same time the token which indicated 
his attendance upon a European consul, seemed to produce 
that respect which a consul's janizary seldom fails to 
command, and he lowered his tone as he inquired with 
whom we desired to communicate. 

Now, if my guide had no other virtue, he had a decided 
aptness in obtaining respect for a European from those 
whom he could not command ; and he replied, 

c It is necessary you should inform us, with as little 
delay as possible, who are the sitting judges at this mo- 
ment. There may be one of the Pashas here whom this 
noble gentleman must see immediately.' 

The guard then, with the assistance of his fellows, not 
only gave us the names of all the judges that were present, 
but entered into such particulars concerning the regu- 
lations of the court, %s enabled the guide to ascertain, 
without any compromise of the dignity with which he 
had invested myself, that it was impossible to get any 
admission, without being called as a witness upon some 
proper trial. 

Then addressing myself in Arabic, that he might be 
understood by the guard, and in a tone and a manner 
that did not require much knowledge of that tongue to 
comprehend his meaning, he said, 

6 Your Excellency will have to return to the citadel, for 
the Pasha, whom you must see, is not here,' upon which 



CAIRO. 



93 



we departed ; but instead of going to the citadel, we sat 
down upon some loose stones under the shadow of some 
trees in the square, where the guide related to me what 
I had not understood of the conversation which had taken 
place between himself and the guard. 

We remained sitting here to witness a sight that we 
were informed was to be seen about this time, which 
the guide trusted would in some degree compensate for 
the disappointment we had met with above. 

A little after mid-day, every twenty-four hours, tribes 
of cats resort to this square, where they receive an allow- 
ance of meat on account of a fund arising from the will 
of a pious Mussulman, who, dying, left some property for 
this purpose, but how much I could not learn. 

Mahometans might often shame Christians by their 
tenderness and their care for the brute creation ; but the 
dog and the cat seem to be their peculiar care. Enough 
has been already said of the former ; but, on account of 
their attachment to the latter, there had been quite an 
uproar in my neighbourhood, arising from my shooting a 
cat, which descended nightly from the roof of the houses, 
and entered one of my rooms, and on one occasion, besides 
breaking some earthen vessel, devoured what was in- 
tended for a part of my breakfast or dinner the next day. 

While we were waiting to see this droll feast of cats, 
several of the parties who had attended the court passed 
by us after judgment ; some, attended by an armed guard, 
on their way to prison, and others, unattended, on their 
way to their homes. One ill-looking fellow, armed with 
a stick of five or six feet in length, conducted three 
women, whom we gathered from his conversation were his 
wives. The man was apparently not under fifty years of 
age, but the parties he conducted did not appear, though 
we did not see them faces, to be more than between 



94 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



fourteen and twenty ; the lowest of which ages is, how- 
ever, that at which many are mothers in Egypt. 

The tongues of the three wives were by no means 
silent; and while the guide lent his ear to discover if 
possible the cause for which they had entered the court 
the husband stopped suddenly, and striking his staff 
upon the ground, exclaimed, that if they were not satis- 
fied, he would lead them back again to the tribunal 
from whence he had brought them. This threat pro- 
duced instant silence ; and all that could be discovered 
afterwards, was a few words by which we found that the 
women had disputed among themselves on account of 
jealousy, which had arisen from this worthy specimen of 
a man having been more generous in his caresses towards 
one of them than towards the others ; and this, my guide 
added, who had himself but one wife, is a constant source 
of dispute where two or more are kept by those who 
cannot maintain them in perfectly separate apartments. 
A man, he added, may keep female slaves with his wives, 
if he pleases, but this is rarely done when the slaves are 
young, but he should never think of putting two or more 
of his wives together, unless the disparity between their 
ages should be very great. 

While we were conversing on these matters the cats 
began to arrive, first slowly and singly, or by couples, 
then in parties of three and four, and soon after this by 
dozens. They seemed to come from all parts of the square, 
but the greater number from each of the two entrances. 
Dogs were not permitted to come upon the ground at 
this hour, but there were plenty of men, and the cats 
marched as if they knew very well that these were their 
friends. The greater part of them moved quite leisurely 
towards the part of the square where they were accus- 
tomed to receive their rations, the elder ones among them 



CAIEO. 



95 



holding their heads as erect as if they had never known 
an enemy, while the younger were distinguishable by 
their greater impatience for the arrival of the commis- 
sioner that fed them. Their friend, however, arrived, and 
distributed a supply of meat, which the cats ate till they 
seemed quite satisfied, and as the good man left the square 
they looked about them and slowly retired, without seem- 
ing to desire to receive more. 



96 



CHAPTEK XII. 
cairo — continued. 

Conversations with a Mussulman — His Defence of the Treatment of the 
Women — His Opinion of the Gospel and the Koran — His Impressions 
concerning the Romanists — His Objection to our Manner of Eating 
Animals in England. 

A stranger in Cairo, more especially if he be without a fair 
knowledge of the Arabic language, has little intercourse 
alone with the native Egyptians, and that little will 
hardly afford him any information worth his acceptance. 
Near two months, indeed, passed away before I met a 
Mussulman above the class of dragomans wdio knew any- 
thing of any language but his own, or, as far as I was able 
to judge, had formed any just or independent conceptions 
concerning the moral and political condition of his 
country, or any clear ideas concerning the condition of the 
people of the more enlightened countries in Europe. At 
length I became acquainted with a native of Cairo who 
had been sometime in Italy, though his researches had 
not extended beyond the capital of that fair land. But I 
shall here note, not his opinion of Eome, but as much of 
his impressions as I was able to discover concerning the 
state of his own unhappy country, and what were his 
hopes and opinions respecting the establishment of a 
better system of government, and the means by which he 
believed his best wishes might be before very long ful- 
filled. In a word, the short discourse to be here tran- 



CAIRO. 



97 



scribed will be a faithful epitome of what was said, and 
should be regarded as an exposition of character in Egypt, 
rather than as referring to any political or moral crisis or 
revolution anywhere. 

This occasion of our intercourse was commenced by 
an observation I happened to make, concerning the im- 
pression made upon the mind of a European, upon seeing 
the veiled ladies of his country, several of whom were 
at the time passing by the open window at which we 
were standing, on large and richly- attired donkeys. I 
inquired of him, whether, when in the European quarter 
of the globe, he had not been pleased with seeing the 
ladies dressed after the European manner ; upon which 
he asked very cautiously, whether the servant who was 
attending with the tchebooks understood the language in 
which we were conversing, which was Italian, and upon 
being answered in the negative, he said, ' Then I will 
remark, — and you must not blame me for asserting briefly, 
what, if the time permitted, I would employ arguments 
to proclaim, — that even concealing of the eyes in the 
street is in women most correct. A woman should not 
be at any time known in the street, which the less she 
frequents the better. Indeed, it were even better that 
her very existence were unknown beyond the circle of 
her nearest relatives.' 

6 As far as the matter concerns myself,' I replied, ' I only 
regret this disguise and confinement because it deprives 
me, as a stranger, of a pleasure I have been accustomed 
to enjoy in Europe ; and among the ladies of Cairo, if a 
man may judge by the eyes that one does commonly see, 
you should have beauty among you of every variety and 
kind.' 

' It is no doubt so,' said the Arab ; ' but although I 
am an advocate for the strictest guard upon the acts of 

H 



98 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



our women, I am not an advocate for the conservation of 
every mal- application of the divine system of which it is 
a part. Now, although you are not a Mussulman, yet as 
a traveller you doubtless respect the religion of the people 
among whom you for the time sojourn? ' 

' I have great respect,' I replied, ' for all modes of 
worship when I believe them to be sincere, being firmly 
assured that they will be accepted by the Deity, by whom 
the conduct of men in their relations to each other must 
be more regarded than their words and professions.' 

4 1 will acknowledge then,' said the Arab, £ that I dissent 
from some things that exist among Mussulmans, but I 
should explain to you that it is not the Prophet's injunctions 
that I arraign, but their occasional misconception and 
their misapplication. The Prophet received the Koran and 
delivered it from time to time to his countrymen, and the 
sacred volume contains many things adapted to the age in 
which he came, and the condition in which his political 
relations placed him : of these some are now inapplicable, 
and should be no otherwise regarded, than as a matter of 
pure history ; there are others again which time has sanc- 
tioned, though taught in an age much darker than that in 
which we live, adhered to and zealously defended, to the 
obstruction of that advance of knowledge which ought to 
have discovered what should and what should not be main- 
tained. Many passages are taken in the literal sense 
which should be considered as merely figurative, and by 
this means are they ill-adapted to the circumstances of 
those to whom the divine word should be preached in 
every country. But brighter days in the history of the 
faithful and of all mankind will come. They may be at 
hand! We are now just what the Jews were at the 
advent of the Messiah, and what the Christians were at 
the coming of Mahomet ; and, until a new dispensation 



CAIRO. 



99 



be given, we shall grow worse and worse — but this will 
come. As the Gospel succeeded the Pentateuch, and the 
Koran the Gospel, so surely will another and purer dis- 
pensation explain the three that have preceded it, and es- 
tablish a law adapted to extend at least to all those of the 
three faiths which owe their existence to revelation, and 
perhaps admit all the human race to the benefits and 
blessings which the munificence of God will appoint to 
lessen the evils of this life, and conduct the faithful to the 
participation of joys unspeakable in that eternal state 
which will assuredly be the portion of the true believers 
hereafter. But,' added he, as he forsook the somewhat 
solemn tone in which he had been speaking, 4 have you 
studied the Koran ? ' 

4 1 have read it,' I replied. 

4 You Christians, then,' said he, 4 are far more apt to 
judge of Islamism from the effects which the negligence 
or misapplication of the text of the Koran has produced, 
than from a fair examination of the divine work and its 
application.' 

4 And is it not possible,' I then said, 4 that the Mussul- 
mans sometimes judge in the same manner of Christianity ? 
Have you perused the books we esteem holy ? ' 

4 We have as much of them in the Koran,' said the 
Arab, 4 as it is proper for us to peruse. The Prophet was 
well acquainted with both the preceding revelations.' 

4 But is it not possible,' I replied, 4 that the very cor- 
rupted condition in which you are aware Christianity 
existed when Mahomet came, may have induced him to 
entertain the opinion which he seems to have formed of 
the Gospel ? ' 

4 By no means,' said the Arab. 4 It is more likely that 
he returned to Mecca or Medina after his sojourn in 
Syria a very fair Christian, and would have so remained 

H 2 



100 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



had the Koran not been revealed to hiin. The dispensa- 
tion through Jesus, the Son of Mary, was like that through 
Moses, and given to spread, and the means to that end were 
adopted. When the Messiah appeared, the Jewish religion 
had expired in spirit, and the world was overrun with 
wickedness. The Eomans, who then governed, were to be 
converted by words and reason. But as you know from 
your Scriptures that these were not always the means used 
by the legislators and prophets of the Jews, you must ac- 
knowledge that God permits the acts of mankind to march 
by steps unchecked by his will and unforeseen by them- 
selves, and what means he will employ, in the event of 
his again addressing himself to the human race, it is im- 
possible to foresee.' 

This reasoning being new to me, I was much at a loss 
to know what sort of arguments to use, in order, if 
possible, to put the religion of Europe in a more favour- 
able light than it had hitherto appeared to the Arab ; 
but it suggested itself to me to ask him whether he de- 
rived the whole of his opinions upon Christian matters 
from those expressed of the Gospel in the Koran. 

6 The Koran,' he replied, 6 has sufficient. But it happens 
that we have other means of judging. In a population 
of little above 2,000,000, you doubtless know we have 
150,000 of the Christian faith. The apostle St. Mark 
seems to have been their great patriarch. There are 
about ten thousand in Cairo alone, and I speak from ex- 
perience when I say, that no condition of humanity can 
be more degraded than that into which they have fallen. 
With their very name there seems included vice, while 
their temples are filled with pictures which they bow 
down before, until their worship has degenerated, and 
become complete idolatry, which could not be that taught 
by the founder of their faith ; and were it not that many 



CAIRO, 



101 



of them yearly embrace Islamism, they would long ago 
have been swept from the land as an impure race, unfit 
to inhabit a country filled with temples dedicated to 
the worship of the true God. I speak this freely,' he 
then added, 4 because I am speaking of my own com- 
patriots. . Yet in truth we keep up no relations with them 
either by marriages or by any looser ties.' 

4 But you have other Christians among you,' I ob- 
served. 4 Have you found those whom you call Franks 
so degraded ? 5 

4 1 have very rarely met any of them,' he said. 4 It is 
the fashion for Mussulmans who do not meet and have no 
transactions with Europeans, to call them by a name 
which is the superlative of everything that is bad. I 
speak only of the residents in Cairo. Yet since some 
have outwardly embraced the faith of the Prophet, I am 
persuaded that all who have been long in Egypt are 
Mussulmans in heart.' 

Though unwilling to arrest the free speech of the 
Egyptian, I was not able to avoid here observing, that I 
firmly believed, and not without careful inquiry, that all 
who called themselves Christians were still really so, and 
that those whom he believed to have changed their faith 
had no religion of any sort, and were alike renegade 
from their country and their religion, and as refugees in 
a Mahometan country, found it for their worldly interest 
to accord with a people, whose religion in their hearts 
they regarded with the same feelings which they had 
looked upon that of their forefathers. 

' But,' I added, 4 did you meet no Christians of any 
other kind during your stay in Europe ? for we are like 
the Mussulmans, not all of the same sect, and indeed we 
diner among ourselves as much as you do, if not in our 
creeds, at least in our forms of worship.' 



102 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



' I met no man in Italy,' replied tlie Arab, 8 who did not 
profess the same belief as the chief who sits upon his 
throne at Borne. From the great men of the land, down 
to the meanest inhabitants of the mountains, I found all 
bowing down before images of saints and relics of martyrs 
with a gaudy show, substituted for the pure worship of 
Him whom Jesus commanded should be simply adored ; 
and, as might be expected amidst this idolatry, I found a 
state of society such as the Moslems would shame to live 
in. I found many priests, professing indeed celibacy and 
pretending humility, but leading such lives as would be 
scorned in Cairo, while the people were governed by the 
influence of the superstitious terrors to which they were 
dupes ; and I tremble when I reflect that this would have ( 
been the condition of all that are now of the purer faith, 
had not another prophet come to turn men from idolatry, 
and to forbid the practices which had changed the worship 
of God into forms and ceremonies, and converted his 
temples into theatres of idolatrous worship, and gaudy 
receptacles of silver and gold and precious stones.' 

I beg of the reader not to suppose that those very 
thoughts which these observations may have suggested to 
his mind, did not also occur to myself, because I do not 
seem to have taken the opportunity, which it would not 
instruct him to repeat, of making a comparison between 
the Christian religion as it exists among a free and in- 
structed people, and the doctrines of a church degenerated 
as it is in Italy into an instrument in the hands of a petty 
sovereign to conserve that ignorance which is wrongly 
supposed to be the best security for authority, and the 
best means to perpetuate clerical influence. 

I shall here, however, mention some opinions which 
the Egyptian had imbibed concerning our country, which 
he spoke openly, and although they may not be agreeable 



CAIRO. 



103 



for every Englishman to hear, were genuine, and may 
not offend every one among us that should hear them. 

When I pressed him to visit England, there was one 
objection, he said, which persuaded him not to go further 
than France. 4 'Tis the manner,' he added emphatically, 
4 in which you dine. I have seen nothing of it, I confess, 
practised by the English I have met here, but I have 
heard your countrymen confess this without shame, and 
you who have been in France and Italy will, I am sure, 
more approve of the manner of dining in both those 
countries than in your own land. Is it not true,' he then 
said, with his hand a little inclined as if he feared giving 
offence, 4 that you have served on your tables many 
animals quite whole ? Birds, for instance, from the lark 
to the goose ; four-footed creatures, from the hare to 
the sucking-pig, of the last of which animals we could 
not, you know, endure the sight, cooked for eating ; and 
moreover, we hear that creatures that are too large to put 
on the table whole, are cut up in such a manner as 
plainly shows that the animal has been killed to satisfy 
your taste. How could an Egyptian sit down before the 
coarse leg of a sheep, and dine upon a slice of this, or what 
would be to him more frightful still, sit down and dine 
upon the head of a calf ? 

6 But will you allow me,' he then added, 4 to say a few 
words more ? ' to which I replied, 

'Pray say whatever your thoughts suggest. It is 
satisfactory for me to hear your opinions.' 

4 Well,' he then said, 4 there is another reason for my 
dislike to this method of dining, which I think that if you 
reflect a little you cannot disapprove. Does not the man 
who sits down and eats of animals placed whole before 
him, very much resemble such wild creatures as frequent 
the desert, the woods, and the rivers ? for these devour 



104 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



even the same animals eaten by men, with, for instance, the 
difference only with the lion, the tiger, and the crocodile, 
and of yourselves, that as these beasts know not how to 
cook, they eat creatures raw, while you— is it not true ? — - 
toast or boil them, which only alters the taste.' 
After this our short conversation ceased. 



105 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

cairo — continued, 

Mahometan Saints — The Ramadan — The Bad Food in Egypt — The Bread 
— An English Episcopal School. 

The Mahometans pay scarcely less real honour to their 
saints, to commemorate their great or notorious acts, than 
our forefathers did to theirs, or than the Eomanists are 
wont to do to their saints at this day. The Mahometan 
saints are very numerous, and there are many days 
in the year that some street in Cairo is illuminated at 
night for the space of about a hundred yards, in honour 
of one of these departed devotees among the ' true 
believers,' and a sort of fete is afterwards kept from one 
to ten evenings, according to the general estimation in 
which the departed saint is held in the minds of the 
living. 

In Cairo the lower stories of most of the houses not 
devoted to commerce rarely have any windows, unless 
they contain the ashes of some saint. The ground apart- 
ment which fronted the house in which I lived was one of 
the receptacles of holy ashes. It had a small door, and a 
tomb was to be seen through an iron grating. This, on one 
occasion, was lit up at an early hour within. There were 
candles set in the midst of fine varied bouquets, and coloured 
lamps in abundance, and on the opposite side of the street 
were suspended rude chandeliers of various colours, and 



106 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



musicians came soon after sunset, and commenced playing 
and singing, and the children of the vicinity from about 
four years old to nine or ten (the greater part of whom 
were without any clothing), formed a group of about forty. 
These occupied the time, as most children would desire 
to do, unrestrained by any formal discipline, in playing, 
fighting, and squalling with voices which almost drowned 
the sounds of the music. 

As the evening closed many old men came, some of 
whom seated themselves at once upon each side of the 
street, while others set out stools for several women 
that followed, who were all mothers ; and these, save one 
or two of the poorer among them who still stood to 
hand the coffee, and attend the tchebooks, seated them- 
selves upon the dust on the ground ; and all seemed 
to silently enjoy themselves with smoking, eating cakes, 
taking coffee, and listening to songs, until about mid- 
night, when they retired. 

The Mahometans — like those Christians whose priests 
have carefully preserved as much of the superstitions by 
which their predecessors in a darker age so governed 
their rude contemporaries as to keep alive their own 
power — like those Christians whose priests have substituted 
the writings of a later era for those of the Evangelists 
and Apostles, which are hardly read by the people whom 
they teach, and govern by anathemas and the dread of 
fire hereafter, instead of by example and exhortation to 
the practice of virtue — like them, the Mussulmans keep 
their days of fasting ; and Eamadan is the name they 
give to the month which is set apart by the Koran for 
the somewhat severe trial of their faith and their patience ; 
and, in truth, it must need a great deal of both, to abstain 
as they really do for that period, from all their accustomed 



CAIRO. 



107 



necessaries and luxuries, during the whole time that the 
sun is above the horizon. 

When I walked out at the beginning of this holy month, 
I felt for the first time since leaving England, the sensation 
one feels while walking in a business street in London on 
a Sunday morning. There was very little in motion, and 
even the coffee-houses were closed. The usual number 
of people were nevertheless seen sitting on benches in 
front of their houses, or lying or sitting on the ground, 
all without the tchebook, without coffee, without the 
chess-board, or any other means of shortening the dreary 
hours of fasting. 

The fast of the Eamadan is much more rigid, yet much 
less reasonable, than that of the Christians above alluded 
to. The Mussulmans will not take a morsel of any kind 
of food from sunrise until sunset, which is announced by 
the discharge of a cannon from the citadel. Indeed, they 
must not only abstain from eating, but they are even 
obliged to deny themselves a drop of water to quench 
their thirst, or even, — which many are said to feel above 
all other privations, — the use of the everlasting tchebook, 
which at every other season is rarely out of the mouth. 

The day indeed is, during the whole of this month, 
almost as silent as the night at other times, and the night 
is spent in feasting and smoking. As you walk through 
the streets, while the sun is above the horizon, you meet 
no more baptismal, or marriage, or other processions, and 
few persons are seen, except those who are evidently 
employed in the kinds of labour which could not be 
suspended ; and, from the camel-driver and his train, 
to the donkey-boy and his charge, all exhibit a languor, 
which four or five hours of excessive indulgence after 
fifteen hours of fasting might be expected to produce. 
The retail merchant sits on the high floor of his stall, 



108 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



asleep, or in a state of profound stupor ; the porter and 
servants of private houses he stretched at the doors ; and 
even women are seen lying on the ground, as if nothing 
heavier than air was likely to pass over them ; and all is 
languor and inactivity until a quarter of an hour before 
the sun sets, when the people seem gradually to re- 
cover their natural vigour. Some are now seen arousing 
themselves from their stupor in the streets or in the 
open shops, and others with agreeable countenances, 
hastening to the benches of the coffee-houses or stalls to 
supply their natural wants. 

After this a time of silence intervenes, when all attention 
and every ear is open for the report of the cannon, which 
puts an end to a state which must be painful to a people 
to whom the pleasures of sense are their chief enjoyments. 
At the moment the gun is heard the tchebook is put to the 
mouth, and is only removed once, after a minute or two, for 
a draught of water, until it is finished. 

There are watermen in the various parts of the streets, 
who are paid by the richer people to distribute water to 
the poor inhabitants who cannot themselves purchase the 
luxury. These poor people, when the gun fires, jump up, 
and run to the nearest waterman that they see, who, 
pouring the water from his skin over his shoulder through 
a spout, hands it to his customers in turn, until his supply 
is exhausted. 

The town now becomes, within and without doors, as 
full as it can be of feasting and revelry ; and if the reader 
has any sense of compassion, he may feel for a European 
living in apartments, separated from each other by a long 
gallery, on each side of which are rooms covered only 
with canvas, but occupied by distinct families, whose 
whole nights are at this time spent in revelry or quarrel- 



CAIRO, 



109 



ling, and to the noises from these causes may be added 
the crying of children, the most passionate and impatient 
of any in the world. Moreover, for the first two nights of 
the Eamaclan there was a donkey in a court beneath my 
bedroom, which answered the bray of every donkey that 
passed, both by day and night. Such are some of the 
pleasures of a residence among a semi-barbarous people 
during the moon of their superstitious follies. 

Between sunset and midnight the streets are paraded 
by a sort of patrol, who carries a copper-kettle, which he 
strikes at the bottom as he passes along, to keep the 
guards from sleeping at the stations at which they watch ; 
and about midnight, others with truncheons thump at 
every door to arouse such as may have fallen asleep, and 
remind them that one-half of the hours of enjoyment have 
expired. 

If the original command and practice of fasting was on 
account of the wholesomeness of abstinence at some par- 
ticular season, its purpose has been more certainly de- 
feated in Mahometan than in Christian countries. Not 
only is the repose by day and the intemperance at night, 
both injurious at all seasons, but the movable periods of 
the months which are exactly measured by the moon, and 
of course take the round of the year, cause the Eamadan 
to be kept as often during the season when it might be 
much better to well satisfy the appetite than to fast. But 
if the fast was intended that men in an early stage of 
society might show their internal feelings and the strength 
of their faith by outward signs, it is certainly not liable 
to the objections above mentioned ; for their resolution 
and their faith are always well tried, and any relaxation 
of the fasting, whenever it may happen, is regarded as a 
decided sign of the decay of faith. Yet the Christian 
priests, whenever the day arrives for instructing the Maho- 



110 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



metans, will do well to conserve this national institution 
for some time, for it is well known that no great change 
in the religion or form of worship of any people has 
been at any time made without leaving some of those 
usages which have taken a firm hold of the converts' 
minds ; and this perhaps tends to piety, with those who 
have become forgetful of the bounty of Providence, and of 
their dependence on a Superior Being for blessings which 
by their frequency have become so familiar as to be little 
appreciated. 

I will now make one or two remarks concerning the 
human food generally eaten in Egypt, which is greatly 
inferior in quality to that found in any part of the four 
quarters of the globe which it has chanced to me to visit. 
The country the most fertile on earth yields the worst 
specimens of all those articles appointed for the sustenance 
of man which are indigenous, or have become naturalised 
to the climate and soil. What a commentary upon mis- 
government is this fatal instance of the abuse of the 
bounty of Providence, through subjection to rulers, them- 
selves, if possible, inferior in intelligence and in manners, 
if not also in morals, to those whom they oppress ! 

The ox and the buffalo are here the most meagre, 
miserable animals, and their flesh when eaten is hard, dry, 
and unpalatable. The meat of the spare sheep would not 
be known for that of the same animal we have in Europe. 
Pork, as the Koran, following the law of Moses, prohibits 
that article of food, is hardly known. Poultry too, from 
the barn-door fowl to the turkey and goose, are all alike, 
mere masses of dry ligaments. And as to the fruits, 
unless the date and the pomegranate, neither of which I 
have seen at maturity elsewhere, make exceptions, they 
would hardly be offered for sale in any market in London. 
I have found even superior figs growing in the south-west 



CAIRO. 



11] 



of England to any I have seen here, and better grapes in 
the north of France. But as to that article of food which 
we call the staff of life, and yet make so much less use 
of than most foreigners, it is sour, heavy, of a dark colour, 
and scarcely to be eaten by Europeans. The outside part 
has a taste and smell which may be conceived when it is 
known that the baker heats his oven with the excrement 
of the camels and some other irrational animals. The 
women collect this in the streets with eager rivalry, and 
it is made up, and sold in the form of the oil-cakes we 
give to our cattle, and is an article of great commerce 
in Cairo. 

A very little animal food is eaten by the poorer classes 
of the people of Cairo, not from want of inclination, but on 
account of their poverty. What they do eat is generally 
the offal of the sheep and oxen killed for the richer classes, 
or the flesh of such as we should say were killed in the 
last month of their natural lives. When one of the Beys 
finds an ox too feeble to proceed with his roda, — which 
is a rude piece of mechanism by which the gardens 
and certain cultivated lands which are removed above the 
bounds of the inundation are watered, — his orders are 
given to knock him down ; and, as soon as he is skinned, 
the filthy, clotted, bloody carcase is sent to the streets, cut 
up, and strewn upon the ground ; and this is no sooner 
known to be exhibited, than it would seem as if all those 
who were hungry within the whole neighbourhood were 
apprised of the proffered feast. Thus a ring is soon 
formed around the carcase by the hungry poor, not one- 
half of whom, could even gratify their sight in view- 
ing the choice morsels, did not the inner circle squat 
in the dust, and thus accommodate the rest for that 
purpose. There is now a great deal of bargaining for 
every piece of this prized treat, which is cut up, weighed 



112 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



in scales, and dealt out as a tiling of value, though it must 
be often a cause of disease. 

My dragoman had consulted me soon after I had en- 
gaged him, respecting a boy which he had of about eight 
or nine years of age. He wished to know my opinion 
whether he would do well to send him during the clay 
for his instruction at an English school which was estab- 
lished in Cairo, in connection with a church episcopal 
establishment, and under the support of the Church 
Missionary Society. I recommended him to do so, and 
he acted on my advice. About a month after this he 
came to me in a complaining and sorrowful mood, and in- 
formed me that his son had been discharged from the school 
with the rest of the Mussulman scholars, and he begged of 
me to call on the superintending English clergyman, to as- 
certain whether his son's tale were true, that these boys 
would be compelled to give up altogether the studies they 
had commenced. This I did not delay doing, and T shall 
mention what came to my knowledge concerning the 
establishment. 

The missionary informed me that the native scholars 
generally had been about forty in number, consisting of 
boys of Copt and Mussulman parents, one-half of whom 
were instructed and maintained, and the rest were only 
day pupils ; but changes had been now made in the esta- 
blishment, one of which had caused the exclusion of the 
Mahometan scholars, all of whom had been obliged to 
discontinue their attendance, without any promise to give 
hopes of a renewal of the former generous endeavours of 
the society; and this change, he added, had been made 
in consequence of its having been discovered that the 
instruction given to the Mussulman boys had raised the 
jealousies of their parents, and had began to produce evil 
in the place of good. 



113 



CHAPTEE XIV. 
Cairo— continued. 

Second Interview with the Mussulman Gentleman and Conversation upon 
the Mahometan and Christian Religion. 

Several days after my first intercourse with the Arab, 
whose opinions concerning the religions which prevail 
among mankind I have reported, the worthy Egyptian 
called upon me with a letter of introduction from a 
French gentleman of my acquaintance, by which I learned 
that his name was Hassan, and that he bore a high cha- 
racter both among the Egyptians and the Europeans ; I 
need not therefore say that he was heartily welcomed, 
though I shall report but a very little of our further 
discourse, which was more satisfactory than that which 
had before taken place. 

His firm belief in the revelations before the Koran, 
seemed to me to have produced those impressions upon 
Hassan, which I thought favourable to enable me to 
withdraw from his mind the scandal brought upon the 
Christian name by the conduct of the degenerate de- 
scendants of the early Christians of the East, and the 
departure from its spirit and simplicity throughout so 
fair a portion of the earth at this day. 

We were scarcely seated before my new friend informed 
me that he was not only under the impression that at our 
former interview he had kept the discourse too much to 

i 



114 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



himself, but he feared that he had spoken more freely of 
my religion than became one of the faithful of his creed 
to speak of a religion, which, though it seemed to him 
to have lost much of its influence upon the morals pre- 
vailing in the European country he had visited, must 
nevertheless be the remnant of that dispensation which 
the prophet of his nation had believed in, and which he 
had spoken of with respect, although it had not been re- 
placed by the new dispensation But I informed him hi 
reply that it afforded me at all times pleasure to hear free 
opinions spoken, and more especially so in a country 
where the political institutions were founded in violence 
unknown in my country, and free speech was difficult and 
dangerous to utter. 

Upon this Hassan proposed to make a few more re- 
marks upon the subject of our discussion, which had been 
so abruptly broken off on the former occasion of our 
meeting, and to this I willingly assented. 

' I have not forgotten,' he then said, 4 the division of 
the subject which was the theme of our discourse ; and 
as I have spoken freely of the corruptions and innovations 
which have degraded the creeds of Moses and Jesus, I 
shall exercise the same freedom in expressing my opinions 
on the neglect of the moral law which the great legislators 
of the Hebrews first promulgated, and the Son of Mary 
confirmed. Perhaps the followers of both these systems 
have nearly equally forsaken the paths pointed out to them 
by the inspired teachers, but I will go no further back 
than to Jesus and his apostles, who we well know spent 
their lives in instructing the people, and exhorting them 
to piety and the practice of the charities of life that 
were the most real. What has been the effect in your 
country I know not, but in Italy the faith of the people 
has been put to political uses, which have degraded 



CAIRO. 



115 



the moral of the Gospel into a mere code of passive 
obedience for the preservation of clerical power ; and 
the priests, by arrogation of the power to forgive sins, 
have overthrown the simple truth by a gross super- 
stition used only to retain their power over the minds 
of the people, and secure their influence with the sove- 
reigns and rulers of the nation. Moreover, they seem 
to have reserved to themselves the sole privilege of 
prayer, save the mumbling a few phrases over beads. 
Thus, power over the minds of the ignorant, and the 
countenance of some princes, whom they repay by 
deceiving the people, seem to me to be the grand 
objects of their desire. Then, as to their own parti- 
cular lives, they are in general notoriously the worst of 
the professed advocates of the purity practised by Jesus 
and his apostles. 

c The Moslem, indeed, has also erred from the direct 
moral path pointed out by the prophet. We have not, 
it is true, to complain of our priests ; for, save a few 
practical extravagances on the part chiefly of the dervises, 
and which are rather ridiculous than effectively injurious 
to religion, that essential body with us lead lives as 
good as can be expected of men at any time. The 
decline and general relaxation of morals with us in 
a great measure arises from the political tyranny which 
we suffer, which indeed has made the pretensions to 
religion a cloak to cover the injustice and rigour which 
rule us.' 

After these free opinions on the part of Hassan, and 
especially after hearing his regrets on the decay of morals 
among the only Christian people of which he had any 
knowledge, I thought myself sufficiently informed of his 
impressions, to venture a few observations upon the 
religion, of which he was only able to judge from a sect 

i 2 



116 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



sunk in superstition and depraved in morals, and of the 
church in that condition where he truly observed that the 
revelation through Jesus was made a mere mstrument of 
tyranny, which domineered over both the bodies and 
minds of men. 

I remarked, that it seemed to me, however excellent 
the moral of the Koran, that the previous revelations 
which he respected could hardly be well known through 
the means of the Mussulman Scriptures, so large a portion 
of which was occupied with affairs which referred to 
the prophet's transactions as a hero rather than as a 
moralist. 

To this Hassan replied by several quotations from the 
Koran, stating at the same time, that if there were 
anything in the Christian moral code that remains un- 
known to Mahometans, it was not the fault of the 
prophet, who evidently designed that none who perused 
the Koran should be ignorant of the Gospel. 

6 One might indeed have supposed,' I replied, 6 that 
when your prophet speaks with so much respect for 
both Moses and Jesus, and, when not occupied with his 
thoughts as a hero, and perhaps I should add not in- 
fluenced by political views, declares that such Jews as 
have faithfully followed the religion for which they are 
indebted to Moses, and have led moral lives, and also 
such Christians as have believed the Scriptures written for 
their learning, and have guarded their lives according 
to their religious faith, would enter into Paradise, that this 
would have excited more interest among you, and 
have softened those bitter feelings which the Moslems 
generally entertain for men of both these religions. 
" The last day," says the Koran, speaking of the Jews 
and the Christians, "they shall have their reward 
with the Lord; there shall come no fear upon them. 



CAIRO. 



117 



neither shall they be grieved," * with many other passages 
from which one would have thought that we should at 
least have been tolerated. I can at any rate inform 
you that all our places of worship, many of which are 
very different from others in appearance, and yet are 
essentially the same, are open to whosoever will enter 
them, whilst yours are closed against all who are not 
Mahometans. Thus you must at least confess, that if 
belief in the Koran by the Jews and Christians be your 
desire, you have not taken the means of obtaining it.' 

I am sure I need not here repeat what I informed him 
of the difference between the reformed churches and 
those which have preserved the usages of the barbarous 
ages which succeeded the commencement of Christianity, 
and I appeared to fully convince him, by information 
quite unnecessary to set down, that although I had no 
design of turning him from the hopes he seemed to en- 
tertain of a new revelation, I wished him to make another 
voyage, and beyond Italy. I told him that I believed 
that he would not go further than France before he 
would find the educated classes in reality free from 
idolatry, although the temples there were decorated with 
images, which some of the uninstructed classes perhaps 
adored, and that if he would go only a little further 
north, he would there find the Christians and their 
temples free from the remotest tendency to the grossness 
he so justly abhorred ; and I must say that when I 
had described our system of worship in England, I 
received a promise from the worthy Egyptian that he 
would, if it were possible, visit London. But, alas ! he 
spoke no English, and should he even fulfil his promise, 
he may misunderstand many things. 

With the reader's indulgence, I will yet add to what 

* See Koran ; ii. 59, y. 50-52, lxi. 6. 



118 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



has been said : that, whatever may have been Hassan's 
impression concerning our relations to the Deity in this 
life, since our first interview he had somewhat changed 
his feelings concerning the comparative virtue of reli- 
gions, which seemed to differ so much from one another. 
He had probably read more carefully the passages in the 
Koran which I had informed him had much pleased 
myself, and after saying that he believed that all mankind, 
of whatever religion they might be, gave credit to the 
assurance of a general resurrection, he expressed an 
opinion very similar to one held by Addison, viz. : 
that, even apart from revelation, we had this assurance 
given us of the continuance of our existence : that, as 
half our species die even before they arrive at the 
bodily perfection that we must suppose they were de- 
signed to attain, and that the other half have not ac- 
quired the full knowledge they are most certainly on 
their way to obtain before they die, both the one and 
the other must exist again. 

The lower creatures, I think it is said by Addison, 
have no sooner attained the full growth and bodily 
vigour which they are evidently designed to attain, 
than there seems an end to their advance in intelligence, 
while the knowledge of man is continually on the in- 
crease as he advances in age, while to his mind's eye 
there appear wonders to the last, into which he finds no 
means of searching. 

One thing at least is most certain — that if the Ma- 
hometans are by any means to be turned from their 
belief in the Koran to a just knowledge of the Bible and 
of Christianity, this must be effected by the Protestants, 
and not by the Eomanists ; their two strongest and 
most reasonable objections to the Christian religion being 
the images they see displayed, and the transubstantiation 



CAIRO. 



119 



which is pretended to be performed, both of which 
shock the more by the extravagant manner in which 
they are shown. 

Whatever may be our opinion generally of Mahomet 
after his inquiries in Palestine, we must remember that 
the state of Christianity at Jerusalem when he visited 
the Holy City, was gross in the extreme, and that the 
religion which he invented and so successfully taught, 
did contribute towards the refinement of the people 
among whom it spread. By its means the grossest 
idolatries were abolished, and in something less than a 
century the worship of God was established throughout 
a greater part of the world than Eome at any time 
governed, and where it is still found to maintam the 
gradations of rank so necessary for the smallest advance 
in refinement.* 

* One of the arguments used by the Mussulman doctors in favour of their 
religion, is drawn from the spurious gospel attributed to St. Barnabas. 
There appear to be copies of this work in Arabic, Spanish, and Italian, and 
it is said to give a history of our Saviour very different from that of the true 
gospels which we possess, and to have foretold the coming of Mahomet 
under the name of Ahmed, which was one of the several names which the 
Mussulman prophet bore. 



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TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



CHAPTER XV. 
cayro— continued. 

Measurement of Time — Calls from the Minarets of the Mosques — Papers 
Read before the Members of the Egyptian Society — The Father of 
History's Reports — Other Papers Read — Slaves at the Gates — Information 
obtained from a Negro. 

If in Italy, where the youths of the more northern 
nations go to study the arts, which are always associated 
with a high degree of refinement, we are struck with the 
irregular manner by which time is in general divided, we 
might hardly expect a better method in Egypt, where 
even the inferior declination of the sun is the cause of 
less variation in the lengths of the day and of the night. 
Here, then, the day is considered to begin at sunrise, and 
end at sunset ; so that, since there are no public clocks 
which can be so regulated, the sight of the horizon, which 
in no part of the world may be seen so nicely as to regu- 
late the time, save where the sun sets behind the ocean 
and rises beneath its bed, a national almanack, which is 
not at present known in Egypt (although the very word 
by which we name it is Arabic), would be necessary to 
properly measure the time. 

Time, however, to an Egyptian, it may be remarked, is 
of little importance, save during the Eamadan, when he 
might be exposed to the danger of losing Paradise by a 
puff of his tchebook, or by moistening his parched lips 
with water, at any time after sunrise, and before gun-fire 



CAIEO. 



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at sunset. But for ordinary purposes there is some means 
of ascertaining the hour, by those who are at no great 
distance from a mosque, in the calling of the Moslems to 
prayer, and indeed this is the common guide of the people 
in the division of time. These calls are made at fixed 
hours, five times every day ; and whoever has been at 
Malta, and should afterwards come to Egypt, will at least 
think that the calls from the minarets are a good substi- 
tute for the chime of the bells of the Eomish churches 
in the British island, which are unceasing, and to some 
persons distracting. 

The time and manner of making the calls from the 
mosques are worthy of notice. The first call to daily 
worship is before sunrise, the second at mid-day, the 
third at three hours after noon, the fourth at sunset, and 
the last one hour and a half after sunset. The men who 
perform this office mount upon the galleries of the 
minarets or towers, which usually form a part of every 
mosque, and chant phrases in such language as the fol- 
lowing :— 

6 1 proclaim the greatness of God ! There is no Deity 
but God ! Mahomet is the apostle of God ! Assemble 
to worship ! ' 

These and other similar phrases are several times re- 
peated at the times just named, but the call at noon, it is 
needless to say, is the most likely to be the best guide for 
time. Yet I have heard this mid-day proclamation half 
an hour later at one mosque than at another. But there 
must no doubt be a greater degree of advancement than 
is found here, and more security of property, before life 
has sweets enough to attain a value which suggests to 
our minds any nice calculation of time. A Turk or Arab, 
be his profession, business, or art what it may, usually 
spends the greater part of the day in the enjoyment of 



122 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



the tchebook. If he be weary, its effects are exhilarating ; 
if agitated, it creates a stupor which benumbs sensibility, 
and the rest of the day is spent in idleness, without the 
hope of reward for any improvement which an original 
thought and a little pains might produce, as well as with- 
out desire of self-approbation, believing in the truth of 
nothing but the Koran, and seeking nothing but the mo- 
mentary gratification of sense, and exemption from the 
increase of oppressive taxation. 

During my residence at Cairo two curious and ably writ- 
ten papers were produced and read before the members of 
the society already mentioned, which seemed to throw 
some light upon passages in the works of the great his- 
torian, whom we call the 6 Father of History.' One of 
them was applicable to that historian's topographical ac- 
count of Egypt, and the other coincides with, and con- 
firms passages relating to the interior of Africa, which is 
yet almost as imperfectly known and described as when 
Herodotus made his useful sojourn with the ancient inha- 
bitants of the land, just as if the world for 2,000 years 
had made no advances in civilisation, nor in all that time 
increased its population. 

Herodotus gives an ample description of a fresh-water 
lake west of the File, which he has called the lake Maoris. 
A lake of that name may be seen on every plan of Egypt, 
and is well known to the inhabitants of the country, and, 
being supposed to be that so particularly mentioned by 
the great historian, modern travellers have searched for 
two pyramids which the Greek has described as standing 
in the midst of it, and not finding these their ill-success 
has often given material for calumnies against the 
'Father of History.' Indeed from his time downwards 
they have never ceased to exclaim against what they 
thought proper to deem marvellous in the books of 



CAIRO. 



123 



Herodotus, until in some degree checked by the learning 
and sagacity of the English trans] ator of that invaluable 
historian. 

Now the writer of the paper above alluded to, has 
positively discovered that this very lake and the 
pyramids, or it should be said the bed and banks of 
the one and the remains of the others, still exist, and are 
in the situation precisely such as the 4 Father of History ' 
has recorded. The only error or omission of the his- 
torian now seems to have been the fact, undoubtedly 
known to him, that the lake was an artificial lake, and 
probably formed after the pyramids were erected ; for 
the ingenious author has proved that this artificial lake 
was formed, not by the ordinary means of digging below 
the surface of the ground, but by the construction of 
dikes more elevated than the height of the waters of the 
Nile at some distance towards its source and channels 
contrived to conduct the water to where it would rest 
considerably above the level of the plain. Thus a lake 
by the same means may be made anywhere in the valley 
of Egypt, and little doubt can exist that this lake, Maoris, 
was full of water when Herodotus was in Egypt, and it 
is not impossible that it had so long existed in his day 
that it had lost its history. The cause which had pro- 
bably raised it had also been forgotten after the popula- 
tion had decreased and the occasion had passed for 
making the intended use of the lake. This could have 
been nothing else than the irrigation of the neighbour- 
ing lands in the event of the failure of the annual 
inundations of the Nile, — a calamity which we might 
conclude was the cause of the famine in Egypt in the 
days of Joseph and Israel. 

The details in the other paper which was read before 
the members of the society, were by no means of less 



124 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



interest to the tourist or the curious concerning both the 
veracity of the historian above quoted and the ancient 
and present condition of the darkly-known countries in 
the interior of this quarter of the globe. Of the countries 
in the world where the enterprise of travellers in modern 
times has been most exerted, there is, perhaps, none that 
has been more studied than Egypt ; yet it is certain that 
none have offered so many obstacles to the accomplish- 
ment of such a communication with its rude inhabitants 
as should lead to the objects in view, whether these be 
the extension of commerce, or the more directly bene- 
volent purpose of withdrawing our fellow-creatures from 
a state of profound darkness, or from the most brutal 
and savage state in which the greater portion of the 
Africans still live, and giving them the elements of 
advancement and civilization. 

Great discoveries have been made ; but, have modern 
travellers given their lives, for the gratification of those 
only who are curious about the manner in which the 
Abyssinians and the inhabitants of the Niger eat and 
drink and build their huts ? Do the people of Christian 
countries pay so many millions annually, to provide the 
means of destroying each other as often as national 
jealousies become sufficiently strong to support human 
slaughter, and all this time forget what the same money, 
spent in forwarding civilisation, might produce ; or, does 
the rich man hoard his silver and gold that the multitude 
may merely wonder? Are these worthy objects in the 
accumulation of wealth ? Are these ends alone worth the 
search ? Is it not known that millions of our fellow-crea- 
tures, capable of the same condition which we enjoy, lead 
lives little better than those of the beasts of the field ? Is 
it unknown to the virtuous among the rich men of Europe, 
that the only communication between the Africans of the 



CAIRO. 



125 



interior and men in any state of civilisation is through a 
people who degrade the human species in the use of the 
knowledge they possess, by heaping fresh misery upon the 
wretched, and setting village against village and people 
against people ? 

Scarcely an hour before I sat down to write these 
lines, I saw at the gate of Cairo more than forty 
negro women sitting in the dust, while the dealer in 
human flesh was occupied in paying the dues exacted as 
a town excise before the living merchandise was admitted. 
The hands of several of the mothers with infants in their 
arms were clasped as if in prayer, while they begged of 
me to purchase them. Could a European dress, a Chris- 
tian dress, which they now perhaps saw for the first time, 
evoke such an appeal, and all Christian Europe remain 
deaf to everything but what promises riches or produces 
fruitless excitement ? Tears flowed down the faces of 
several of the elder women among them, which told a 
tale of suffering since their capture, and made them 
anxious at least to get rid of the brutes who conducted 
them. 

I regret that I cannot speak more of the contents of 
the paper above alluded to, than such things as struck 
me more particularly, while it was being rapidly read 
before the members of the society. The writer appeared 
to have communicated with a Negro not long since 
brought down the Nile, whose history embraced travels 
very far beyond the bounds of those countries from which 
the slave-hunters and traders usually obtain their victims. 
This negro, who is described as an intelligent person, 
gives a consistent account of his frequent transference 
from the country beyond the mountains in which the 
sources of the Nile may be found, by sales from hand to 
hand ; and, with every appearance of truth, he describes 



126 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



the inhabitants of a country watered by a great river, 
which, coming from the direction of the setting sun, flows 
towards the direction of his rising, and must consequently 
fall into the Indian Ocean ; and, if this be correct, the 
river can be no other than that alluded to by the ancient 
historian ; and, what is of still greater interest, some men 
of dwarf stature which are mentioned by the historian, are 
described by this negro ; and, it should be added, that 
these very passages in the work of the historian were 
not known to the writer of the report before its contents 
were read before the British representative, as the most 
zealous and capable man upon everything bearing upon 
Egypt, and by whom the coincidence was immediately 
perceived. 

If indeed there be truth in the report of the negro 
alluded to, there remains not a doubt that a vast country 
in the interior of Africa is inhabited by men subsisting 
upon serpents, mice, and other loathsome and disgusting 
creatures, and whose only communication with other 
men is with the hunters of the mountains from the 
nations beyond the sources of the Nile, who capture, 
destroy, or reduce them to a state of slavery, just as 
their wants or their caprice may dictate. 



127 



CHAPTEE XVI. 
cairo — continued. 

Petrified Trees in the Desert — Tombs of the Memlook Kings — A Dervise 

Fortune-teller. 

About two hours' ride in the direct eastward of Cairo 
there are found lying a number of trees and portions of 
trees in a state of petrifaction, and these form one of the 
sights that attract the attention of travellers. They are 
at least a curiosity involving the inviting circumstance of 
mystery concerning their existence in the sterile desert. 
I had not at this time much acquaintance with the desert, 
and the most remarkable feature of the remains here seen 
seemed to be their existence upon a ridge of hills where 
there are no signs of any other vegetation having ever 
existed. But you may here walk over a space of several 
acres of ground, differing in no way from the rest of the 
desert, save that they are strewed with these fallen and 
petrified remains of the bodies and branches of trees, the 
heaviest of which are for the most part found upon the 
very top of the ridge of hills. 

A French gentleman was with me, and we observed 
some of the trunks to be above forty feet in length, with 
every appearance, from the position of their broken 
branches, of having flourished and fallen upon the very 
spot where they now lie. My companion compared the 
scene to that of a ship-yard where the timber in its 



128 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



rough state had been gathered for ship-building, and he 
curiously enough fancied that he discovered the marks of 
the axe and the saw ; but, for myself, I did not think 
there were any traces of the works of men's hands. But 
some of the trunks were broken into pieces, none of 
which were thrown a foot aside from the rest. 

We next visited the tombs which bear the appellation 
of the ' Tombs of the Memlook Kings.' They consist of 
a series of monuments which present very noble specimens 
of Saracenic architecture during the last era of proper 
Egyptian nationality and independence. 

The domination of the kings commenced with the 
decease of the last caliph, E. Saleh, and continued until 
the occupation of Egypt by the Turks, under Sultan 
Selum, and the abolition of the monarchy in the year 
1517. 

Of the caliphs who preceded the Memlook kings 
there remains but a single monument, which is the tomb 
of E. Saleh, the devout, whom it has been necessary to 
mention previously in the notice which has been given 
concerning the dynasty of that race of rulers over Egypt. 
There is nothing very remarkable attached to the tomb, 
unless it be its antiquity. This caliph was buried in the 
church in 1250, and the tomb, as far as it is visible, is 
formed like a sarcophagus, but is of wood, and is covered 
with a great variety of devices. It is enclosed within a 
railing of the same material, over which is raised a dome, 
high and broad, but not remarkable for any of the sculp- 
tured ornaments which serve to embellish the domes of 
the kings, his successors. 

At the extremities of the tomb, detached from the rail- 
ing, stand three or four posts, of about six feet high and 
four feet in circumference, resting upon a base of stone 
about a foot high. They appear to be of a hard kind of 



CAIRO. 



129 



wood, and to have been covered with stucco ; but all I 
could learn concerning them were some confused ideas 
which came from the brains of the Arab who exhi- 
bited them. By his account they had been sent from 
Europe during the reign of the caliph with some evil 
design, which had miscarried. There were several relics 
apparently, hanging from the top of the railing of the 
tomb, one of which was the model of a ship. From the 
view that may be obtained of this, it would seem to belong 
to an era some centuries later than the reign of the caliphs. 
I therefore desired the keeper to be told that the model 
of the ship was more like those that the sovereign of Eng- 
land had last sent to recall the Pasha to his senses, than 
those of the time of the caliphs ; but this remark was 
not replied to ; and when I pronounced the good man 
the stupidest of the Egyptians that I had met with in 
charge of anything, the interpreter informed me that it was 
the novelty of the occasion rather than the keeper's stu- 
pidity that was to blame, for that it had been so rare to 
see a European at this tomb, few of whom he supposed 
knew of its existence, that the man was all the time com- 
muning with himself concerning the strangeness of the 
curiosity that had brought me there. He did not ask any 
question ; but I desired my interpreter to inform all who 
stood by — for there is no occasion when a European thus 
occupied is not surrounded by five or six Arabs, whose 
countenances discover the wonder they experience at 
witnessing our curiosity — that I was acquainted with the 
history of E. Saleh, and that it was admiration of his 
piety that stimulated me to visit his tomb. This ob- 
servation seemed to beget even more curiosity than I had 
before seen expressed in the countenances of those that 
stood by, and the keeper himself requested I would in- 
form him how long it was since the death of the caliph, upon 

K 



130 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



which I informed him of the year that history registers 
as that of his decease, when he lifted up his eyes in astonish- 
ment, and all who stood by made an involuntary move- 
ment expressive of the same feelings ; and the interpreter 
informed me that the most intelligent of them would 
spend the time till they forgot my visit, which might not 
be for some days, in conjectures to divine by what means 
a European could have learnt the history of an Egyptian 
caliph. 

The proper tombs of the kings consist each of a mosque, 
to which is adjoined a chapel, ornamented with precious 
marbles in the same manner as many that are found in 
Italian churches, and in each of these, within a massive 
stone sepulchre, repose the remains of a king. These 
mosques have generally each a splendid dome and a 
minaret, but there is one that has two domes and two 
minarets. Several, also, have had schools for children 
attached to them, which are now falling to decay more 
rapidly than the mosques. Around the mosque which 
contains the ashes of Kaitbay, who died in the year 1496, 
there is clearly the remains of a village, the principal 
houses in which have been of two stories ; but the roof- 
less upper apartments, when I visited the place, were filled 
with negro and Abyssinian slave girls, lately brought 
down the Mle, and kept without the town, until the 
Pasha might have gathered his dues for their admission 
at the gates. 

Within the tomb of the Kaitbay are certain imaginary 
memorials which the superstition of the Moslems has pre- 
served of their prophet, and which I am more particular 
in noting, from their resemblance to a memorial which I 
afterwards saw of the author of Christianity. These are 
upon two large stones, apparently of blue granite, and 
placed in wooden frames. Upon the surface of each of 



CAIEO. 



131 



these they show the impression of one of the feet, they 
say, of Mahomet. When these were pointed out to us, 1 
remarked, merely to observe what might be the reply, that 
although the impressions seemed to be of bodies of about 
equal weight, they were certainly not made by feet of 
equal size. But although this remark was given by the 
dragoman to the Moslems around, to whom the mosque 
and tomb were intrusted, there seemed to be no inclina- 
tion on the part of any one to make any reply. But while 
we were occupied in examining the reported impressions, 
several of the men came near and drew their right hands 
over the stones, and then put their hands to their lips and 
their foreheads. 

On our return from the tombs we observed in the 
corner of a public street a little coterie, composed chiefly 
of the fair sex, with whom were mixed some boys ; and 
upon approaching nearer the party we found it to consist 
of some people assembled round a dervise fortune-teller, 
to whose divinations they were all listening with marks 
of curiosity and suspense ; and as we peeped over the 
shoulders of some of the party, we observed the street 
magician to be a man apparently of about sixty years of 
age, and he was sitting upon his heels against the dead 
wall of a mosque. He wore a white turban, and he had 
a white beard of great length hanging down upon his 
naked breast, while the rest of his attire and his general 
appearance had nothing in them extraordinary or different 
from the aspect or dress of the Egyptian Arabs in general. 
He held open with both hands upon his knees, a thin 
square volume, from which he was reading and turning 
the leaves over and over, as he referred backwards and 
forwards from page to page, to make up some charm or 
discover some oracular presage. 

We stayed a short time without perceiving anything to 

K 2 



132 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AM) SYRIA. 



come out of the magical discourse. YTe then encouraged 
one of the boys present to accompany us as we walked, 
and we inquired of him what the magician had commu- 
nicated to the interrogating parties ; and he informed us. 
that the signs that the old man had consulted had been 
very propitious, and that he had well contented all that 
had addressed him ; c X ot excepting an old woman,' added 
the boy with natural emphasis. 6 who I should have 
thought the most likely of the party to have received a 
discouraging answer.' 

; And pray what did she demand, and what answer did 
she receive ? ' said the dragoman at my request. 

' Why,' answered the boy, ; the question was simple, 
but the answer was such as I suppose no woman who 
should come to consult the magician would expect. Not, 
however,' continued he, ' that there are not many to my 
knowledge in Cairo who might receive such an answer, 
but they do not come.' 

Upon this, this intelligent boy was requested to explain 
himself further, to which he replied, 'I. have heard no 
questions put that did not arise out of the anxiety of 
the women respecting the affections of them husbands, 
and I know many women who could not receive any 
other answers than such as would confirm their despair. 
But the answer received by this woman was such as no 
one could interpret. 

6 And do you really think.' then said the dragoman, 
' that this diviner has power to foresee future events, and 
to speak of things that neither his eyes have seen 
nor his ears heard ? ' 

The boy, who was evidently as quick as he was 
curious, had never, as it appeared, entertained a doubt of 
the capability of the magician, and knowing the town to 
abound with husbands whose wives were more numerous 



CAIRO. 



133 



than beloved, — as, indeed, may be often the case where 
the marriages are contracted as they are in Egypt, — had 
been somewhat surprised at many answers which he 
knew had been given. Nevertheless, when it was indi- 
cated that there might be some doubts of the skill of 
the diviner and the correctness of his answers, he said, 
6 How can there be any mistake when he reads the whole 
out of a sacred book ? ' 

But here we came to a crowded part of the street in 
which we were walking, and the boy separated from us 
as if he did not like answering any further questions 
that might be put to him in the presence of his country- 
men. 



134 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

catro — continued. 

A Mosque Dedicated to a Relative of Mahomet — Causes of the Unfruitfulness 
of the Mussulman Women — Visit to the Coptic Church — Number of Copts 
in Egypt — Their Manner of Worship — The Israelites. 

There is a mosque in Cairo dedicated to Tainab, daughter 
of Ali, relative of Mahomet, but by whom built, and how 
endowed with its peculiar virtue, I did not learn. The 
sacred edifice, however, is the resort of the married pairs, 
inhabitants of the town, when the consummation of the 
very natural wish of the wife is the subject of their 
petitions to heaven. The Moslem women very rarely 
enter the ordinary mosques, and never during the time 
of prayer ; but, under the supposition that midnight peti- 
tions put up from this particular mosque avail above any 
prayer elsewhere, such of them as are unfruitful obtain 
the permission of their husbands to disappear for the 
greater part of the night from their almost perpetual 
prisons, and many it is said have obtained precisely their 
wishes at the natural period, after their visit to this 
mosque. But although I would not be thought to enter- 
tain any doubts concerning the peculiar virtue of the 
mosque, I may yet observe without offending delicacy, 
that the evil so frequent and so much dreaded by the 
fair, who are often divorced as soon as found unfruitful, 
arises chiefly from two causes — from the early marriages 
of the girls, who are commonly united and reside with 



CAIRO. 



135 



their husbands before the age of puberty ; and from 
the want of affection, arising from the manner in which 
the ceremony of the marriage is performed, which does 
not admit of the husband, except among the meanest 
classes, even to see the face of his bride until they are 
- by themselves when the marriage is about to be fully 
consummated. 

A friend and myself made a visit to the Coptic church 
on the eve of Christmas Day, and were received with 
quite state ceremony. 

There are said to be at present in Egypt about one 
hundred and fifty thousand of this people. The greater 
part of the sect live in villages in Upper Egypt, some of 
which are exclusively inhabited by their race ; and, about 
ten thousand, to one or two of whom the reader has been 
already introduced, dwell in Cairo. They are undoubt- 
edly descendants of the ancient Egyptians, a little mixed 
with the people of the countries lying south of them. 
They now, however, save in their religion, differ but little 
from the dominant race. Even their dress is the same, 
save the colour of the turban, which is black. St. Mark 
they acknowledge as the first preacher of the Gospel to 
their ancestors, and this evangelist is believed to have 
been the first patriarch in Alexandria. 

The orders in their church consist of a patriarch, a 
metropolitan bishop, arch-priest, deacons and monks ; 
and the patriarch, who is the supreme head of the church, 
occupies the chair of St. Mark, and generally resides in 
Cairo, though he is always styled Patriarch of Alexandria. 

The entrance to their place of worship in Cairo is by 
a narrow passage in the quarter inhabited by the Copts, 
and the building consists of three separate apartments 
besides an appointed place for the women, which has in 
front of it a partition with lattice- work of the standing 



136 



TEAVELS m EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



height of ordinary persons and too close wrought to see 
through from without, and we heard that the inclosure 
was rarely occupied by more than a very few persons. 

On entering the first of the three proper apartments of 
the church, we found it crowded with male worshippers, 
seated upon their heels on the ground, about one half of 
whom had staffs in their hands, which we observed were 
used for support during the time it was necessary to 
stand. This did not, however, happen more than once, 
and for a short time, during more than an hour that we 
were in the church. But as the service was to continue 
uninterruptedly until day-light, this provision might be 
very necessary. 

The patriarch of the sect, who was himself within the 
inner chapel where all the mysteries are celebrated (for 
they are less openly performed than with the Eomanists), 
had been advertised of our approach, and before we had 
half pushed our way through the worshippers upon the 
ground, the deacon and an assistant priest met us and 
assisted us through the second half, to the entrance of a 
sort of Holy of Holies. Here the patriarch, a venerable 
and intelligent looking man, the representative of St. Mark, 
and it may be said of St. Athanasius, himself met us, and 
invited us into the holy place ; but, as we found it was 
necessary to take off our boots, this required a little 
ceremony. Upon entering, we observed nothing that 
to the eyes of Protestants differed very much from 
the grand altar of the Eomanists. When, however, we 
had satisfied ourselves with the little there was of interest 
to inspect, chairs were brought us, and we were begged 
to seat ourselves a little, without the entrance of the holy 
place. 

The service, as long as we remained, consisted of hymns, 
and the reading of St. Paul's Epistles in the Arabic lan- 



CAI110. 



L37 



guage. But as far as we could distinguish, there was 
nothing that resembled worship in the one, nor reveren- 
tial respect in the other. The singing was performed by 
a sort of choir, and the epistles were read by a boy who 
stood in the midst of the squatters around him, but hid 
from their view by a number of boys who carried lights 
and stood around the desk. It really seemed quite clear 
to us that the boy that was reading did not understand a 
word of what he was pronouncing aloud. 

At intervals during the singing, the deacon and others 
officiating in the ceremonies approached the patriarch 
and kissed the cross in his hand, which seemed to confirm 
our opinions of the resemblance of the service generally 
to that which the Eomish priests seem to us to put in the 
place of the rational worship which should be offered by 
the creature to the Creator. 

At length we became heartily tired of listening to what 
nobody seemed to understand any better than ourselves ; 
and finding that it was necessary to ask leave of the 
patriarch to retire, we did this ; after which we gave the 
good man the salaam, and left the church, both of us im- 
pressed with the opinion tha t the Coptic forms of worship 
were as much in accord with the religion of the evange- 
list, who is said to have been their first founder, as the 
Church of Koine might be with the patrons of its obsti- 
nate errors. The Coptic church, however, has this ad- 
vantage, that preaching is general, and this duty I was 
afterwards informed often falls to the lot of priests -both 
able and desirous of instructing the people. 

The Jews, of whom there are now here between four and 
five thousand, have six synagogues, and form an interest- 
ing portion of the population of Cairo, where a consider- 
able number have resided ever since the captivity of the 
ten tribes. They are regarded with the same ill-feeling 



138 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



by the dominant race, that people of all religions without 
political influence are regarded by semi-barbarians, who 
are here of course predominant, and they are often so 
much oppressed as to induce them, when practising the 
business of bankers or money-changers, to carry on their 
affairs with great caution ; for although the Mussulmans 
believe as much of the Jewish religion as they do of the 
Christian, both of which were in the opinion of the most 
enlightened among them as good in a former age as their 
religion is at the present time, they yet treat the former 
in such a manner as to oblige them to affect poverty 
in their offices and out of doors, while the interior of their 
dwellings are generally handsome and sometimes luxuri- 
ous. They are nevertheless indebted to the late sultan 
Ali Pasha for the enjoyment of religious toleration, and 
exemption from military service, for which, however, 
they pay a certain tribute. 



139 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

cairo — continued. 

Walk among the Tombs beyond the Walls of Cairo— Alarming Signs — Appli- 
cation for Aid to Search around — Mussulman Superstitions — The Thoughts 
that occurred to me — The four distinct Sects of Mahometans buried here — 
Discovery of a Mourner. 

I was walking alone one evening, during rny stay at Cairo, 
beyond the walls of the town, when an incident occurred 
which broke the monotony of some days passed chiefly 
within the doors of my dwelling, and it has seemed to me 
of sufficient importance to claim a place among these 
faint sketches of Egyptian character and manners. 

I was among the many tombs that he along the whole 
line of the desert which skirts the town in the direction 
of the east, when I was surprised by a faint cry which I 
took for that of a jackal or wolf, with both of which 
intruders the desert abounds ; and as I was armed with 
pistols only, I concealed myself among some of the higher 
tombs near the place where I stood, in hopes that if the 
stranger should be coming in that direction he might not 
discover his enemy until he was within pistol-shot. In 
this position, however, I heard no more cries, and no 
steps of living creature ; and supposing that the intruder 
had departed, I put aside my pistols and continued my 
tour among the numerous resting places of the former 
inhabitants of the city, from the time of its construction, 
through its age of glory, down to this time, which is pro- 



110 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



bably the last period of its existence among the consider- 
able cities of the world. 

It must have been a full hour after I first heard the 
cry of what I had taken for a prowling intruder upon the 
sacred repository of the dead, when, as I sat between two 
upright turbaned stones which formed the head and foot 
of a Moslem tomb, I heard again the same sound, distinctly 
enough to distinguish with almost certainty that it was of 
the human voice ; and it now occurred to me that it was 
the accent of some person who, in the act of performing 
his devotion at the tomb of a relative, had fallen ill, and 
become incapable of returning to the town, a condition 
which I knew was not without example among the aged 
and devout inhabitants of Cairo. I therefore commenced 
a search for the supposed invalid in the direction in which 
the voice had seemed to come, but I could find no one : 
nor, although I wandered about as long as I might remain 
beyond the Avails of the town without the pass-word of 
the night, I heard no more sounds, ncr was I after a short 
time able, amidst the multitude of tombs in the wide 
space which they occupied, to discover that upon which 
I had sat when I heard the last cry ; and had it not been 
for the profound calm that reigned, I should probably 
have returned to my dwelling impressed with the belief 
that it had been but the wind which I had heard whist- 
ling through the crevices in some crumbling monuments, 
and have forgotten the incident as soon as I had the mind 
occupied by any other object; but, the more I now re- 
flected, the stronger was my conviction that I had not 
been mistaken, and as it was getting late, instead of re- 
turning to my own residence, I went to the official resi- 
dence of the British consul to report what I had experienced. 
I was too late there, however. The consul had left the 
office for his house out of town, and the chancelier, the 



CAIRO. 



141 



young men, the janizary and the dragomans had all re- 
tired to their private dwellings. Finding this the case, I 
sought my own dragoman, and we proceeded directly to 
the office of the chief magistrate of Cairo. But here I 
was at first almost as unsuccessful as at the consulate, for 
the worthy chief had himself departed, and the officer in 
attendance appeared at first as perfectly indifferent as if 
he believed what I reported to be the effects of fancy, and 
not worthy of his attention ; yet after a few minutes he 
asked several questions very seriously, which the drago- 
man informed me was no doubt in consequence of hearing 
the guards present express their belief that what had been 
heard were the cries of some pious soul departed, aggrieved 
at the footsteps of an enemy to God, walking above the 
ground under which he reposed. However, we were now 
freely given the word required to pass beyond the gates 
and re-enter the town, and I set off with my dragoman 
and a janizary, to make a search for the sick, or perhaps 
dying man, who I felt convinced there certainly had been, 
within an hour of that time, helpless among the tombs. 

We soon passed the gate ; but we had hardly reached 
the burial ground, when my dragoman exhibited feelings, 
which, to do him justice, I believe were a mixture of 
pious doubts and superstitious fears, and he declared 
that he thought it neither safe nor proper, in a religious 
sense, for us to walk over the graves and trample upon 
the ashes of the faithful at that hour. 

' But there is a Mussulman,' I replied, 6 one of the 
faithful, perishing. The piece of bread and little water 
which you carry may save him.' 

We now stood for a moment still, and after the drago- 
man and the janizary had conversed together in the 
only tongue known to the latter, the dragoman further 
said, 6 It is too late. We hear no sound. The Mussul- 



142 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



man must be dead already. We cannot proceed farther. 
It is near the time that the angels Moonkur and Nekur 
visit the tombs of the departed ' — I thought of Hamlet : 

' The season 
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk; 1 

— ' and we may not at this hour remain among the dwell- 
ings of the dead.' 

I had not foreseen this objection, and I was astonished 
when I considered from whom it came. But before 
finishing the account of this little adventure, it may be as 
well for the information of such as are not conversant 
with the Mussulman belief, to give a short notice of the 
impression entertained by them concerning the spirits of 
the unseen world, and the character and office of the two 
beings just mentioned, who are unknown, it is very certain, 
to any of our Christian creeds. 

The Moslems believe in the existence of innumerable 
spirits which partake of a nature partly human and partly 
angelic, in which they do not seem to disagree with our 
great epic poet, who proclaims that : 

' Myriads of spiritual beings walk the earth unseen, 
Both when we wake and when we sleep.' 

They believe also, with the same degree of consistency, 
that these spiritual beings, both good and evil, are for ever 
occupied in the regulation or the derangement of the 
affairs of mankind. But they believe likewise in a remark- 
able race of beings which they name Geni or Gemi ; 
and so strong is the impression of their existence and of 
their power to assume a pleasing or frightful shape, a 
human or at least visible form, and their aptitude to appear 
in the silence and darkness of the night, that few men 
can be persuaded to remain under any circumstances 
at any time alone, and rarely even in company, in the 



CAIRO. 



143 



dark ; and they never even sleep without the light of a 
lamp. 

It is believed, indeed, that these spiritual beings 
visit the tomb of every human being, the night which 
follows the day in which the body has been consigned 
to the ground ; and that the soul of every one is for a 
short time reunited to the body to undergo examina- 
tion. The man so lately buried, they say, sitting upright in 
his grave, is questioned by them concerning his faith, and if 
he answer that his belief is in one God who has no asso- 
ciate in his power and his glory, and that Mahomet is the 
favoured apostle of God, he is so far approved, that his 
spirit is sent to abide with the faithful, until the final day 
of judgment, when he shall directly, or after the purifica- 
tion which his sins in this life may demand, enter into 
Paradise, and enjoy for ever all those sensual delights 
which the Koran promises to the true believers ; but if 
he answer that he is of any other faith, his unhappy 
spirit is driven directly to the p]ace appointed for the 
residence of those who have denied the true religion, there 
to await the great day of account, when he shall be finally 
consigned to the torments which the Koran declares will 
be his portion for ever : and it was chiefly the terror of 
meeting with these spirits of the first night after burial 
which had seized upon the superstitious minds of my Arab 
companions. 

I needed not to be precisely told the cause of their fears, 
for it was only a day or two before this adventure that 
the enlightened, and only enlightened, Egyptian that I had 
met with, and whose conversations upon some other sub- 
jects I have before reported, had informed me on this very 
subject what the feelings of his countrymen were. He 
had, he said, ventured to dispute with a dervise concern- 
ing the coming of the special angels of the examination in 



144 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



the grave, his arguments against their existence being 
based on the fact that there was no mention of either 
their names or their offices in the Koran. I did not, 
however, venture upon that argument with the janizary 
and the dragoman, but I told them that at another time 
there might be more grounds for their fears, but* that 
at this season of the year — and I hope what I said was 
harmless — when such myriads died in Europe, I was sure 
Moonkur and Nekur, if they even found time to get 
through their prescribed duties, must despatch them and 
away wherever they found the dead, without waiting to 
perform anything out of the direct line of their proper 
employments. But although this encouragement was given 
them with all the gravity which should attend what is at 
once awful and true, and seemed at first to calm their 
terrors, yet they persisted in their refusal to accompany 
me any further, and I was obliged to set out again to search 
the ground I had perhaps traversed unsuccessfully a half 
a dozen times already, and now with greater disadvantages 
than I possessed before, for it was perfectly dark. I 
had lighted, however, a pocket lantern which I carried, and 
after bidding my superstitious companions adieu, I was 
soon hid from their sight behind the tombs and mounds 
of earth in the great burial-ground of the silent desert. 

But I must report my own feelings and the thoughts 
that occurred to me in this novel situation. My first 
feeling was, that of vexation at the obstinacy of the 
Moslems. I remembered, however, that their terrors 
arose from their religious impressions, which it was proper 
to respect, and I thought of the ridicule which might 
attach to the adventure, should I return to the town with- 
out making any discovery, after causing so much ado. 

While I was occupied with these reflections the poor 
Moslem of whom I was in search might have groaned 



CAIEO. 



145 



away his soul unregarded, although I had passed within 
a short distance of the grave where he might have been 
mourning over the tomb of a beloved child, but now 
perhaps sunken clown and yielding up his spirit for want 
of a fellow-creature to support his steps and restore him 
to the embraces of his disconsolate wives, or slaves. 

But while I was engaged with these reflections my lamp 
went out. It was one of the sort used in Turkey and 
Egypt, with sides made of cotton, which will fold up 
between a top and bottom of tin, so that it may be carried 
in the pocket when not required, and can contain a 
little taper which is lighted to go from house to house, 
but will not burn above an hour. Those who carry these 
lanterns usually have a spare taper with them, as it is not 
permitted, as already observed, to appear in the streets 
without a light after the evening prayers, upon pain of 
imprisonment. The necessity of a second taper had not 
occurred to me ; but it was of little importance without 
the town, for the stars shone so brilliantly, that the lamp 
had not been more than a few minutes extinguished before 
I found I could wander about by the light from the sky 
with the same facility as by that of the taper ; and I pre- 
ferred continuing my search, to making any endeavour to 
rejoin the superstitious Arabs who had refused to accom- 
pany me. 

"As the night now advanced I became weary, and yet 
felt less and less disposition to return to the habitations of 
the living, and I sat down upon one of the Moslem 
tombs, and putting my back against the head-stone with 
my feet upon the slab, I determined to look upon the ad- 
venture in the favourable light in which it were perhaps 
better to regard such an incident, rather than give to the 
mere loss of a night's rest the importance of a calamity. 
The changeful element was still at rest, and the air was 

L 



146 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



of that delicious temperature that produces no sensation 
of either heat or cold, and every source of sound was as 
still as if all that had lived now reposed with the ashes of 
the dead which slept beneath the many tombs that strewed 
the desert waste, and it seemed as if the twinkling fires 
in the firmament were alone remaining of all the works 
of the Creator. The time has been, when I have lain 
down to rest, alone in the midst of the woods in another 
land, where perhaps no human foot save that of the 
savage had ever trod ; but if the wind was not heard to 
sweep over the top of the pines which raised their heads 
above the thick mass of forest trees, the owl screamed, or 
the brook murmured, or one of the numerous quadrupeds 
with which the woods abound was heard pressing the 
dead leaves beneath his feet, while creeping among the 
underwood in search of his prey ; but the effects of the 
entire stillness of the elements, and the absence of any note 
or step of any creature that breathes — the reality of 
silence — I never felt till now. 

The stars, moreover, seemed increasing in brightness, 
and I could perceive one of the great cupolas over the 
tomb of a former governor of this ill-fated land, when 
the Egyptians had at heart some common feeling with 
the race that ruled over them, as the embellishments of 
the capital under their more enlightened dynasty would 
be alone sufficient to testify. Here lay the mortal remains 
of the various sects of the Moslem dead, and there the 
grand tombs of their ancient sovereigns. Yet, in all this 
vast collection of human ashes, there could not be the 
remains of a sinoie soul who believed while living; that 
one Christian spirit might ever enter the abode of the 
blessed, which he died in the full hope of inhabiting himself 
for ever ; and how many Christians believe that nut one 
of these — not one of the myriads that have covered the 



CAIRO, 



147 



fairest portion of the globe since the creation, will ever 
, enter that happy state which they declare that themselves 
alone will be permitted to enjoy in the future world ! 

I have heard a Christian preacher of the sect deemed 
one of the more learned on earth, enumerate the Maho- 
metans among the innumerable hosts doomed to the hell 
which he had vividly painted. Could this man sit among 
these graves in the desert, and perceive the bolts of the 
Almighty to 6 deal damnation round the land ' upon all 
that his presumptuous conclusions deemed the foes of the 
common parent of all ? 

There are four distinct sects among the Mahometans, 
and here lay the remains of the enthusiastic votaries of 
them all, while, as we know, the ashes of one sect of 
Christians cannot he beside those of another sect with- 
out sometimes exciting such feelings among the living as 
we might well be ashamed to confess. 

I raised my eyes towards the mighty arch of the firma- 
ment studded with its golden fires, which give light to 
worlds beyond the reach of mortal sight, all, all the w^ork 
of the same unsearchable Being by whose power we exist, 
and I could not help exclaiming, 6 What is man, that thou 
regardest him ? ' I considered the condition of men in 
the East, and the pains there taken to obscure the intel- 
lectual light which has shone throughout a great portion 
of the West, and the diverse application of the faculties 
which distinguish the human from the inferior creatures, 
with the reason which the common Creator has given us, 
to the end that we might discover and understand our 
duty to Himself and our relations to one another ; and if, 
said I, continuing these reflections, the whole material 
creatioD which the firmament of heaven displays, act all 
in harmony, wherefore hath the all- wise Creator suffered 
so much disorder and derangement in the undertakings 

L 2 



148 



TRAVELS m EGYPT ATsV SYRIA. 



of the intellectual beings that he has placed upon the 
surface of this earth ? Are we occupied in labours which . 
are not those in which he designed Ave should be employed? 
or, are the disorders of the world, 6 direction which we 
cannot see,' and necessary to accomplish the happiness 
which it is given us to hope for hereafter. 

' All discord, harmony not understood ; 
All partial evil, universal good'? 

After this I rose and continued my search. Some 
fleeting clouds had now obscured a part of the sky, and 
I several times seemed distinctly to see some object in 
motion, but as I approached what I saw, it as often 
appeared to vanish. My thoughts were now most un- 
common to me. At one moment I believed that I had 
caught the superstition of my late companions, and ima- 
gined that I saw what did not exist, and at another 
moment I was firmly persuaded that what I saw was 
real. In one instance, in the accent of my country, I 
said aloud, 6 If thou art a spirit that I see, speak, but if 
a mortal, stand.' But these words were hardly uttered 
when I saw no more the object that had excited them, 
and I felt ashamed of my weakness. 

Suddenly, however, as I passed amidst the thickest 
clusters of the turbaned monuments, I saw a figure, the 
lineaments of which were too distinct to leave any doubts 
of its earthly character. It was marching directly towards 
me, and I soon perceived it to be that of an aged Arab. 
He had a staff in his right hand, and did not seem to 
perceive any one until I saluted him in the familiar 
phrase of the country, Ma-sha-la (Praise to God), to 
which he replied in precisely the same words. We 
then joined company and bent our steps towards the 
gate of the city, where T found the Arabs that had left 
me, and through whom I now learned that there could 



CAIRO. 



140 



be no doubt that the stranger with me was the man I 
had been seeking. He was a lately-returned pilgrim from 
Mecca, and had come to visit the tomb of a brother that 
had died during his absence ; and, overcome by the grief 
to which he had given way, he had sat or lain down till 
it was too late to gain admittance at the gates without 
the pass-word, which was unknown to him. He now, 
however, entered with us, and at least my conscience and 
my curiosity were satisfied. 



150 



CHAPTEE XIX. 
cairo — continued. 

The Franks — Slave Market — Dragoman's Advice to Marry — His Keasons for 
this Advice —Remarks upon the Slave-trade in the East and the West — 
Cruelties on the Boys upon the Nile — Abyssinian Girls — Humanity of 
the Moslems — Cruelty of Greek Women. 

The Europeans in Egypt, who are commonly called 
Franks by the natives, may for our present purpose be 
considered to be composed of three classes or orders. 
I must here remark, however, that the English residents 
do not at any time allow themselves to be distinguished 
by that appellation. The European consuls, with some 
few English and French merchants, form the first class of 
the Europeans in Cairo, and the second is composed of 
shopkeepers and mechanics, consisting for the most part 
of Maltese and Italians, and the third class is formed of 
working men from several European nations. Besides 
these, there are always English travellers on their way 
from England to India, or on their return. Now, the 
policy of the first of these classes has been to employ 
those Arabs who are the most respected by their 
countrymen in general, and not to interfere with their 
religious creed ; and as to the second class, if I am cor- 
rectly informed, there is hardly a Christian to be found 
among them. They are chiefly composed of malcon- 
tents, who have in most instances been driven from their 
country by their political extravagances or their impa- 
tience of that restraint which a Christian community ever 



CAIRO. 



151 



enjoins ; and it need not be added, that there is no 
resource here for the conversion of the young Arabs to 
Christianity. 

The important depot for the sale of human beings in 
an eastern capital is always an object of interest to 
Europeans, and generally one of the first which they 
visit ; I was, therefore, not many days in Cairo before I 
paid a visit to the slave market. What the Egyptians 
would call the richness of their markets for the women 
exposed, consists chiefly in the variety of their colours, 
ranging from the most fair, which usually embellish 
the harems of the higher or more wealthy classes of 
the people, to those who are thorough negresses. The 
most beautiful women were formerly brought from 
Georgia and Circassia ; but this trade ceased with the 
independency of Greece, and the pashas and beys, with 
the exception of some of the more wealthy who still 
obtain Circassians by way of Constantinople, have been 
since that time obliged to content themselves with the 
rather tawny Abyssinians, which are brought down the 
Nile in great plenty, and may, when not especially hand- 
some, and before they have been, as the custom is, trained 
to some occupation, such as sewing, and the housewife's 
accomplishments, generally be purchased for the moderate 
sum of about four purses, which is equal to twenty pounds 
sterling. But when these advantages in their training 
are purchased with them, they will generally sell at from 
six to eight purses, according to their beauty ; and, indeed, 
when that is remarkable, for two or even three purses in 
addition. These are such as embellish the harems of the 
nobler or more wealthy people of Cairo ; while the 
negresses, who are generally sold for about two purses or 
less, are bought for servants, and are employed in the 
menial occupations of the household. 



152 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



There is, however, this important difference to the 
purchasers, between the Circassian and the Abyssinian 
damsels, that the former are usually sold by their own 
parents at a tender age, in their own country, and brought 
to Constantinople and trained in the above accomplish- 
ments, and, moreover, may arrive in Egypt in a virgin 
state ; whereas, the Abyssinians which are taken in 
war, which is carried on perpetually between the petty 
chiefs of their country and the Egyptians, are subjected 
to a long transport by land and water, and are violated 
in all instances before they reach their destination, 
which is a point so material as to have great influence 
upon their rank and influence in the harems of their 
purchasers. 

As to the men, who are of course of the same degrees 
of colour as the women, their price is regulated by their 
age, activity and strength, with the exception only of 
those victims who guard the harems, who are sold at a 
price little short of twenty purses, or about a hundred 
pounds sterling. 

During the earlier part of my sojourn at Cairo, my 
dragoman showed great anxiety about my domestic com- 
fort, and took several opportunities of giving me his 
advice upon what he deemed the sole means of acquiring 
comfort. 6 1 have seen enough,' he argued, £ of Europeans 
to know that you are able to live without wives ; but as 
I find you living, as I have seen others, without any 
attempt to procure a wife, I must tell you a strong 
reason I have for advising you to marry as soon as con- 
venient. You must know,' he continued, ' that I am com- 
pelled to report to our neighbours what persons are living 
in our house, and it is a great offence to every one around, 
and hardly delicate in yourself, that you live here without 
either a wife or a female slave. We should long ago 



CAIRO. 



153 



have been turned out of any other part of the town, had 
you not by this time united yourself with one of the fair 
damsels with which Cairo abounds.' 

6 And does that account,' I observed, 6 for my having 
been spit at by the women through the lattices of the 
windows as I passed by ? ' for I did not remember at the 
moment that I was at another part of the town when I 
received that kind salutation. 

' Oh, no,' said the dragoman ; ' it is not the women, but 
the men, that this matter concerns. Several of our neigh- 
bours have sent more than once to inquire whether you 
have a wife or female slave, and the sheykh of the district 
has more than once asked me this question, to which I 
have replied that you were doubtless on the look-out for 
a fair companion. There is not a Turk or Arab between 
this and the proper Arab quarter that does not regard 
you as an enemy, and will continue to do so until you 
think proper to silence their scandal by taking a wife. 
The Egyptians are very jealous.' 

Upon this I observed, that I thought the eight or ten 
purses that would be demanded was rather too large a sum 
to pay for a wife, as I intended so soon leaving Cairo, and 
travelling where it would be very inconvenient to carry 
an Egyptian woman. 

' But you may divorce your wife,' said the dragoman, 
6 when you please.' 

' But here,' I replied, 4 1 fear my Christian conscience 
might interfere.' 

Then said the Arab, 6 If you prefer it, I will look out 
for a Copt woman, whom you may marry and divorce if 
you please with her own consent in a month. ' 

' This may yet be attended with inconvenience,' I re- 
plied. ' Europeans are apt to get fond of their wives, and 
their wives of them, and in that case it would be attended 



154 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



with more pain than would counterbalance a month of 
conjugal enjoyment.' 

But here I appeared completely beaten in my argument 
when the Arab informed me that he knew a Copt lady 
who had been so often married and divorced, that 
although still fresh and young, she would be too much ac- 
customed to this to be in the slightest degree disappointed 
or angry, and he was sure that she was not beautiful 
enough to over-enchant myself ; and here, after my refusal 
to dream of such a marriage, our conversation for the pre- 
sent dropped. 

I shall take this opportunity of making a few remarks 
concerning the difference between the slave-trade in the 
East and in the West, of both of which I am able to speak 
from experience. They may possibly be useful to some 
benevolent reader whose thoughts have been turned 
towards the relief of his fellow-creatures in a state of 
bondage. 

In the Western world, which contains at this time a 
population greater than that of Europe, several of the 
governments still directly or indirectly favour the sad 
commerce in human flesh and blood. Is it therefore to 
be wondered at, that the demand for slaves continues 
with the increase of population and wealth, and that the 
suppression of the trade has not been effected, even by the 
zealous efforts of particular societies, and the active opera- 
tions of our ships of war upon the coasts where slaves are 
purchased ? 

The manner in which the slaves from the Eastern 
countries and from the western coasts of Africa are taken 
by those who barter them, with the exception of some from 
the Black Sea, is nearly the same ; occasionally by attacks 
upon villages, but more generally by wars among the 
petty chiefs, by which whole villages fall sometimes into 



CAIRO. 



155 



the hands of the one party and sometimes into the hands 
of the other, upon which the conquerors upon the coast 
of Africa sell their prisoners to the white traders, who tran- 
sport them to America, and the conquerors in Abyssinia 
send their prisoners down the Nile, to Cairo and Alexan- 
dria, and also to Constantinople, while those taken or pur- 
chased in Asia are chiefly transported to the Turkish 
capital and no further. Those obtained on the west coasts 
of Africa are chained and confined by hundreds in the 
holds of vessels ; and after crossing the Atlantic, they 
labour for the rest of their lives in miserable mines or 
under the scorching sun, beneath the lash of their merci- 
less white overseers. 

Thus the Eiver Nile and the great western ports of 
Africa are the chief outlets by which the unfortunate negro 
and Abyssinian captives are transported to those demi- 
civilised lands, where society has not yet made sufficient 
advances to admit the institutions, and, it may truly be 
said, even the religion of the more enlightened quarter of 
the globe. 

The traders who carry on this traffic by the Nile are, 
for the most part, themselves of negro origin, and they 
reside chiefly in Upper Egypt. They usually leave their 
boats above the second grand cataract of the Nile, which 
is in Nubia, while they pass well armed into the interior ; 
and their approach is the signal for war between the 
tribes, the villages and the districts, and even particular 
families of the same districts and the same villages, all of 
whom make war upon one another for the capture of the 
youths and children whom they may sell to the invaders. 

All the prisoners captured on these occasions are sold 
to the Egyptians, who embark them for the markets of 
Cairo and Alexandria ; but a great many of the stout and 
healthy of the young men are seized by the Pasha's offi- 



156 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



cers in their voyage down the river, and are made soldiers, 
while the rest, as they arrive, are deposited at the estab- 
lishments of the traders in the above-named towns, until 
their owners are able to sell them either privately or at 
the public market. The number of slaves brought into 
Egypt has of late years decreased, through the overstrained 
covetousness, rather than from the humanity of the 
Pashas, who have increased the duty per head which is 
imposed upon the vendors. 

The lot of these slaves is less unhappy after their arrival 
at their destination than that of their equals carried away 
from the western coast. In Egypt there are no mines, 
few masters are indifferent to the condition of their slaves, 
and many take great interest in their welfare, which is a 
feeling that may be compared with great advantage to 
that of the purchasers and transporters of the slaves on 
the western coasts. Some of the men in Egypt are sold 
to the fellahs, and are associated with the free labourers, 
and employed in the cultivation of the land, while others 
become domestics in Egyptian families ; and when this 
latter case is their lot, they rank above the free servants, 
whose tie is precarious with the families which they serve. 

Nevertheless, it must be confessed that there is a great 
exception to the superior fortune of the slaves who de- 
scend the Nile, though it is limited in the numbers of the 
sufferers, who are always negro boys of a tender age ; and 
this is the vilest of the treatment to which any slaves in 
any country are subjected; and the. treatment of these 
poor children is to fit them, when they are of ripe years, 
for the guards of the women of the harems. This cruel 
act, which is performed as the slaves descend the river, 
leaves this little recompense to the sufferer, that his life 
when of full age, after this treatment, becomes one of 
great ease ; for, being intrusted with so serious a charge 



CAIRO. 



157 



during his youth, he ranks in after life above every other 
servant or slave, and sometimes fills a political office of 
trust ; and moreover, while in the performance of his 
duties mentioned, he is of course never subjected to the 
consequences which might spring from the jealousies 
and suspicions of his superiors. 

The Abyssinian girls are for the greater part purchased 
by persons of rank and wealth for their harems, and even 
sometimes become the wives of their masters. Most 
people of wealth, however, prefer having no wives, on 
account of the greater facility of keeping female slaves 
in subjection ; and in that case, these are often treated 
with the same consideration as the wives of others. Some 
of the Abyssinian women are said to be extremely hand- 
some ; but as I only saw those who were for sale in the 
market, I cannot speak with certainty on this subject. 
Those who are sold and settled in an Egyptian family 
are more commonly kept at needlework, and their 
embroidery is said to be very fine. The colour of their 
skins is darker than that of the Egyptians of the town. 

The negro men, women, and girls who are brought 
down the Nile become the menial servants of all classes 
of the Egyptians who can purchase and maintain them, 
and they have this advantage over their relatives in the 
far west, that their bondage is not accompanied with the 
same degradation. They more frequently obtain emanci- 
pation, and they are eligible to, and often fill, employ- 
ments of trust and profit, and some men attain a high 
condition by filling public offices to which they are ap- 
pointed in the State. They have indeed always a prospect 
of advancement before them, and those who do not rise 
have at least the consciousness that they are of the same 
race as some persons much raised and respected in the 
country, 



158 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



To this summary concerning the condition of the slaves, 
in Egypt in particular, it should not be forgotten to add, 
that the preponderating advantages which they may be 
said to enjoy over the poor captives of the same race sold 
in the west, arises from their good fortune in having fallen 
among a religious people (for such are the Egyptians) ; 
whereas, the traders from the New World, and in most 
instances those to whom this merchandise is consigned, 
are at this time without a remnant of the religion of their 
forefathers or that of any other people. The religion of 
Mahomet, although it does not forbid slavery, yet enjoins 
charity and teaches humanity ; and the claim of slaves 
did not escape the particular notice of the warrior prophet. 
6 A man,' says the Koran, fi who behaves ill to his slave will 
not enter into Paradise.' 

But I shall here take the opportunity of remarking, 
that this compassionate disposition of the Moslems extends 
itself beyond the human species, and is exhibited in 
tender treatment towards the brute creation. Bogs, cats, 
birds, and any animals that are not venomous or other- 
wise dangerous to men, are very rarely, if ever, beaten or 
wantonly destroyed ; and even such as are killed for food 
are not killed without the observance of certain regula- 
tions intended to subject them to as little pain as possible. 

I saw only one instance of cruelty to a slave while I was 
in Egypt, though that surpassed any description I am able 
to give of it. But after what has been just said, the reader 
will readily believe that this was not by an Egyptian, or 
Mussulman of any country, It was by a Greek woman, 
who passed at least for a Christian, and was practised 
upon one of her own sex of the negro race, whom she beat 
in a manner far too bad to describe. I had before seen the 
devil in masculine human form, but I did not know until 
this time that he ever assumed the feminine form. Two 



CAIRO. 



159 



sons which this woman had, left their mother and went 
over to the Mahometan religion, but whether on account 
of her scandalous conduct, which had already driven me 
from her house, in which I had lodged for a short time, 
I did not learn. 



NOTE. 

Some years ago, in the Danish island of St, Thomas in 
the West Indies, I had the opportunity of examining a pirate 
slave-ship just completing her fitting-out for the African coast, 
One of the seamen of the vessel on board of which I happened to 
be had deserted and gone to engage in the service of the slaver, 
and I took the opportunity, by accompanying our captain in 
following the seaman, to gratify my curiosity in seeing what 
the slave-ship was like. 

Upon coming alongside we had immediate liberty to mount 
the ship's side, and as we stepped upon the deck, her captain, 
who was certainly an Englishman, met us; and as soon as he 
heard the purpose for which we had boarded him, he with great 
politeness asked us to descend to the cabin. The vessel to all 
outward show was a perfect model of a ship of about 400 tons, 
and being built expressly for sailing she was sharp and shallow, 
with a sufficient breadth of beam, and was very taunt rigged, and 
her decks had everything upon them of brass, iron, or copper, 
so polished as to give her altogether more the appearance of a 
yacht than a pirate vessel. 

As soon as we were seated in the cabin, which was equal in 
its fitting to any I had before seen, the deserter was sent for, 
and the captain of the slaver before his arrival informed us 
that, if it appeared that he had not taken the oath of defending 
the ship until death, he would be given up. 

The deserter soon entered the cabin with an under-officer, 
looking rather modest for a seaman engaged or about to en- 
gage on board a slaver. The captain of the vessel, now addressing 



IGO 



TRAVELS E\ T EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



the officer who conducted him, demanded whether the fellow 
had taken the usual oath put to the seamen, and was answered 
that he had refused to take it, unless an exception were made 
in case of the enemy being a British man-of-war ; upon which 
the captain said immediately, 6 Then conduct him to the boat 
alongside and there leave him ; ' then turning to us he said, 
6 the rest remains with yourselves.' 

And now, wishing perhaps to impress us with the idea that he 
was not a pirate, but that the transport of slaves was his sole 
occupation, he led us to the half-deck of the vessel, and showed 
us all the preparations that were made for their security when 
on board. There were no separate apartments, but throughout 
the hold of the vessel from one end to the other lay two stout 
chains, to which were attached at intervals of a few feet the 
means of shackling 400 men. These chains passed through 
apertures in each bulk-head fore and aft, where the under- 
officers and seamen slept; and here there were machines for 
winding them up, and he informed us that this arrangement 
enabled him to carry with safety 400 men with a proportionate 
number of women and children. The men were separately 
attached to the chain, and in the improbable event of the 
smallest disposition among them to mutiny the machines were 
wound up, which immediately suspended every one of the slaves 
by the feet or the hands, by which they happened to be 
shackled. 

I must add to this, that before I left the island I saw the 
landing and march towards the market for sale of a cargo of 
slaves, consisting of men, women, and children, and I stayed to 
see the ceremony of their sale. They were separately disposed 
of by auction, and the scene was such as required a strong nerve 
to witness patiently. I saw women weeping at their separation 
from the men with whom they had lived in Africa, and I saw 
men equally sad ; but this was nothing compared with the 
sight of the children, torn from the arms of their mothers, who 
were frantic with mingled sorrow and anger at the treatment 
they received. But what will the reader think when I add, 
that I saw a negress snatch up her boy and run and embrace a 
white man, and, as it was plain, demand of him to purchase her 



CAIRO. 



161 



and her child together ; but the white man, whose countenance 
betrayed sorrow which could not have been feigned, turned and 
left the ground, and the woman sobbed and screamed the 
more. 

Lovers of justice, mercy and truth, rejoice ! the negroes of that 
isle are now as free as those of Jamaica and Barbadoes. Have 
the fruits of the earth nourished a man more admirable than 
Wilberforce ? 



162 



CHAPTEE XX. 

THE RIVER NILE. 

Preparations for Navigating the River — Plan of the Boats — Comparison be- 
tween the Nile and the St. Lawrence — Our Departure — A Gay Vessel 
descending. 

Before the end of October the Egyptian sun begins to 
abate the extreme heat, which during the three preceding 
months has threatened to suspend all the operations of 
human industry ; and as the winds at this season are 
constantly from the north, which is in favour of the tra- 
veller who would ascend the Nile, I began to prepare for 
a voyage into Upper Egypt. While I was making my 
arrangements, accident brought me acquainted with 
Monsieur Grande, a French gentleman, who had lately ar- 
rived at Cairo for the purpose of making the same expe- 
dition ; we therefore agreed to unite, and on the 30th of 
the month of October we inspected the boat which Ibrahim, 
whom we engaged for our dragoman, had prepared for us 
at Bulac. 

The form of the Nile boats is not very unlike that of 
our Portsmouth wherries, sharp and long, but adapted by 
a different rig for a different maimer of sailing. These 
boats are of various sizes, and are from twenty to forty 
feet in length, and have commonly from ten to fourteen 
rowers ; yet nothing strikes the eye as peculiar in the hull 
of the boat until the traveller is on board, when he dis- 
covers that from near the mainmast to the stern are placed 



THE RIVER NILE. 



163 



cabins and places of accommodation ; and as the boats 
are used for making long river voyages by all classes in 
Egypt, it is less surprising that the accommodation afforded 
to the passengers upon the Nile is very great. 

At the commencement of the sheltered portion of these 
boats, you descend two steps to a chamber, where are 
placed divans, upon which you may sit to enjoy the fresh- 
ness of the air, free from the draught, as the wind sweeps 
over the bosom of the stream. From this you enter the 
main cabin, which, in proportion to the dimensions of the 
boat, forms a moderate-sized or ample dining-room, and is 
furnished with divans, which can be converted into con- 
venient sleeping places for the night. This apartment 
has windows on either side with Venetian shutters, over 
which a thick covering of canvas passes at night, to 
shelter the travellers from the cool winds which some- 
times, after the setting of the sun, come down • from the 
high lands of the desert. Next to this is a space of a few 
feet in breadth adapted for the stowage of such things as 
it is necessary or prudent to carry for the voyage, beyond 
which is properly a fourth cabin, with two windows on 
either side, and two astern, with an outlet which conducts 
to a projection of the roof, under which rest such of the 
baskets as contain the live stock, with the great water 
coolers and several other necessaries. 

On the 31st of October, the day after that on which we 
had inspected the boat by which we were to ascend the 
river, the British and French ensigns waved over us, and we 
cast off from the shore with a strong northerly wind, and 
began our ascent against the rapid current of old Nile. 

We first passed between the Island of Eocla and old 
Cairo. Here the banks of the mighty river present the 
highest cultivated land and the most adorned scenery to 
be met with in Egypt. Here may be seen the gardens 

M 2 



164 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



of the island on the right, and those of the banks 
of the river on the left, in both of which appear official 
edifices belonging to the higher officers of the State. 

After passing the southern end of the island, the Nile 
appears to be about two miles in breadth, and the pyra- 
mids of El-Ghizeh are now seen on the right beyond a 
cultivated country about four miles in breadth, while, on 
the opposite shore, the mountains which bound the arable 
land leave a narrower space fit for the residence of men. 

It would be impossible for a traveller of the dullest 
fancy to navigate the Nile, in many particulars the most 
interesting river of which sacred or profane history makes 
any mention, without sentiments akin to veneration, and 
a multitude of reflections which would be unsuitable to a 
journal intended to comprise no more than a record of 
such customs and opinions as may seem the most remark- 
able among those which fall under notice during the 
course of ordinary travels. There is, however, such a 
striking occasion of comparison here presented to those 
who have navigated the great river of the New World — 
which flows hi the more important portion of its course 
through the British dominions — and afterwards mount 
the Nile, that we could scarcely find two objects of simi- 
lar interest more varying, in whatever light we regard 
them, than those which the Nile and the St. Lawrence 
suggest; a word or two on this subject may therefore 
be pardonable. 

Let us first contemplate the great watery pathway which 
connects the unclaimed wilderness and untrodden moun- 
tains of the New World, with the scenes of the first opera- 
tions of men engaged in combining the elements and 
laying the foundations of empires. Here we see the hand 
of man first engaged in subduing the obstacles which 
nature opposes to our earliest efforts to till the ground. 



THE EIVER NILE. 



165 



Down this mighty stream we see transported the first 
objects with which nature supplies us for the construc- 
tion of our habitations, before even the agriculturist has 
tilled the ground, or the artisan learned to construct 
any solid buildings. But proceeding with this view of 
what is in progress, we gradually encounter the first signs 
of art and industry triumphing over every obstacle, and 
in every stroke of the falling axe we soon see visions of 
new cities, new provinces, new empires. All is here hope, 
all to come ! 

But while navigating the ' Father of Waters ' in the 
East, how different are our associations ! There is not a 
view in which we can regard the parent stream, where 
we do not read the history of times long past — in which 
we do not see the parent which in the day of her full 
vigour originated the very elements of all that is combined 
in the comprehensive term civilisation. That mankind in 
the more eastern countries, at the time of the advent of 
Abraham in Egypt, had scarce made any advances in 
social refinement beyond that of the right to distinct pro- 
perty in the soil, will, it is presumed, be admitted, while 
we are certain that Egypt at that very time had far 
advanced in the arts, and was overflowing with abun- 
dance. Nature, which had here perhaps never opposed 
the great obstacle to cultivation, which comes from the 
luxuriance of the forests elsewhere, had at once watered 
and manured the land by the inundations of this grand 
river, and by thus aiding instead of obstructing the 
labours of men, had produced that leisure out of which 
doubtless sprang the arts and sciences which first enriched 
and afterwards refined a portion of mankind. 

Upon the mighty temples, the remains of which exist 
in Upper Egypt to this day, we find inscriptions and even 
diagrams and plans of the heavens, and modern research 



166 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



lias gone far to prove that these existed at the time of the 
Exodus of the children of Israel, and that they exhibit a 
progress in science which it must have taken ages to attain. 

But gliding gradually in thought down to a less remote 
age, we seem to see the sages of Greece here acquiring 
the rudiments of that science which, even when human 
knowledge had ceased to enlighten their land, was not 
extinguished, but was planted in countries, whence it has 
spread so widely " over the earth as to leave no fear of 
its extinction. 

We were as much delighted as surprised at this time 
with the sight of a gay vessel approaching us, which 
seemed to proclaim pleasure and enjoyment. She was 
coming tranquilly down the stream, by force of oars alone ; 
and, though decorated with no national ensign, so gaily 
adorned with paint and coloured curtains, that had a 
European sovereign's yacht floated beside her in her grand 
apparel, even from the first of marine lands, we might 
scarce have withdrawn our eyes from this fairy of the 
Egyptian waters. Such indeed was the impression that 
she made upon my companion and myself, that we seemed 
as if we were suddenly transported from the land of a 
sadly low social degradation to a land of ease and enjoy- 
ment. It was impossible to contemplate the gaudy show 
without recalling the poet's account of the barge of the 
famous Egyptian Queen — 

' The barge she sat in, like a Dimrish'd. throne, 
Burn'd on the water/ 

and learning to pardon the amorous Eoman the sacri- 
fice of the world for her whose person 4 beggared all de- 
scription.' 

As we drew near the floating show, our dragoman dis- 
covered that we had fallen in with the Pasha of some 
district, with the ladies, or a part of them, of his harem, 



THE KIVER NILE. 167 

as well as all the female attendants of his establishment, and 
although our reis, or pilot, had been a little more cautious 
than we wished, we passed near enough to the floating 
wonder to obtain a fair view of her and of her living 
freight. 

The Pasha himself was sitting under a rich canopy 
near the waist of the vessel with the tchebook in hand, 
attended by several ebony domestics standing, and abaft 
this covering was a gay pavilion, with curtains which 
were close upon the side of the sun, but so open at the 
side by which we passed, that we had a satisfactory gaze 
H the fair portion of the proud barge's rich freight. 



168 



CHAPTEE XXL 
the river Nile — continued. 

The Wind fails us— Moor off Memphis— Land— The Statue of Barneses— The 
Grottoes or Catacombs of Beni Hassan — A French Medical Man — The 
Crimes sanctioned in Egypt — A Crocodile. 

The wind failed us during the night which succeeded 
the day of our embarkation, and we moored off the site 
of the ancient city of Memphis. The following morning 
we disembarked on the strand, and without encountering 
any obstacle, passed over a tract of country, part of which 
was cultivated and part covered with natural grass and 
the wild herbs of the climate, with irregular clumps of 
palms interspersed with the sycamore and wild fig ; after 
which we reached the village of Beclrechein. Then pass- 
ing round the banks which skirt and defend this collection 
of mud hovels from the waters of the inundation, now 
about half subsided, we discovered the rich grove of palms 
which wave over the site of the ancient city, the mounds 
and hillocks near which conceal all that may remain of 
the middle portion of the three districts into which Egypt 
was at a remote epoch divided. 

Arrived at this spot, where probably the more durable 
portion of the ancient town stood, we passed over heaps 
of solid ground upon which the palm now nourishes, and 
beneath the roots of which perhaps still he the remains 
of temples, and of the palace of that Pharaoh which the 
Jewish historians have rendered so familiar to us — the 



THE KIVER NILE. 



169 



courts perhaps where the first inspired legislator held in- 
tercourse with the oppressor of his race. But now only 
here and there lie broken hewn stones and fragments 
of statues, save a single colossal statue lying prostrate 
upon its face below the surface of the ground. It was 
half covered with water at the time we visited the 
spot. Upon the back is written 'Barneses,' which is con- 
sidered full evidence that we here tread upon the site of 
the ancient city. 

The statue is thirty-four feet long, and is in the same 
style as that raised to Eameses the Second, the Sesostris of 
Herodotus, and the greatest of the Pharaohs. It does not 
seem to have been broken in the fall ; but it has been 
much defaced, probably by the thousand uses to which 
a mass of stone not under the shelter of a temple would 
be exposed, while the surrounding edifices were falling 
into decay, although the business of the great city yet 
survived. 

The next objects of peculiar interest, as you pass up the 
river, are the grottoes or catacombs of Beni Hassan, the 
entrances to which are seen about half the height of the 
hills which bound the fertile valley of the Nile upon the 
east between Menieh and Manfalout. They consist in 
long sepulchral chambers worked in the cliffs of solid rock 
which form the base of the superior hills that rise 
beyond them. As we attained the broad lodgment of 
the rocks in front of the entrance to the chambers, the sun 
in his decline was shining full against the side of the hills, 
and while we stood upon the natural platform in front of 
the catacombs, the 'Father of Waters,' as he passed between 
several islands, appeared to us like two or three broad 
canals ; and the rich vegetation of the valley, bounded by 
the Libyan mountains on the one side and the sterile hills 
on the other, presented at once the source of the former 



170 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



wealth of the nation and the cause of the early glory of 

Egypt. 

We examined the catacombs, in the chambers of which 
there was nothing to be seen by the light of our lamps, 
save a number of bats about the size of our thrushes, or 
larger, and which we seemed to disturb from their slum- 
ber, for they all left their dark abode and came into the 
open air. 

When we came out of the catacombs the sun was near 
sinking beneath the Libyan hills, and a cloud, of conical 
form, interrupted his direct rays. It was the first cloud of 
a watery, sombre appearance that I had seen in Egypt, 
yet it was edged with a golden fringe, such as is some- 
times seen in other climes. But as the bright orb still 
descended, the brilliant edge of the cloud contrasting with 
the deep blue of the rest of the heavens, was like a new 
phenomenon to myself and my friend. 

On our arrival at Menieh, on the fourth day of our 
voyage, we heard that there was a European doctor, a 
French gentleman, in the service of the Pasha there, 
attached to a garrison ; and as my companion was suf- 
fering from local inflammation, and this would be the last 
opportunity we should have of obtaining the aid of the 
profession which marches hand in hand with civilisation, 
and is one of the marks which distinguish the condition 
of the more advanced races, we landed to obtain advice, 
and we soon found the residence of the gentleman, who 
received us very kindly, and afforded the invalid the 
required relief. 

The next day we examined a spot of ground which 
excites far different feelings from those which attend the 
examination of evidences of the greatness of a departed 
people with which Egypt abounds. If the heart of a 
Christian be chilled and a shrill accent escape his hps 



THE RIVER NILE. 



171 



at the first instance of inhumanity which he witnesses 
during a sojourn among people under barbarian rule, 
what will be his feelings when he enters the gate 
of the detested city of Manfalout, which was long the 
theatre of periodical iniquity, that has no parallel through- 
out the earth, of crimes which moralists in general must 
have neglected to publish to the world from a false senti- 
ment of delicacy ? Caligula became humane in the 
presence of a victim of his tortures ; yet the cruelties 
of the Eomans, the torture of the rack, and all the frightful 
inventions of the monsters who pretended to Christianity, 
even up to a late age, seem mercies and benefits conferred 
when placed in comparison with the enormities which are 
yet perpetrated under the sanction of the rulers of Egypt. 

I have just said that a false sense of delicacy may 
have induced tourists of far greater pretensions than the 
writer of these remarks to throw a veil over what it should 
be every traveller's duty to expose, every Christian's, every 
man's, to condemn, and what the rulers of every civilised 
people ought to combine to put a stop to for ever. 

I shall at least say, that upon the north side of the city, 
fronting a spacious plain of the great Egyptian valley, 
there is an irregular mass of wretched buildings, within 
the walls of which are chiefly, at present, perpetrated 
these crimes. Here about a thousand infants are annually 
slaughtered to obtain about three hundred guardians for 
the wives, female slaves, and daughters of Mussulman 
£ true believers,' throughout the Ottoman Empire. But to 
merely say slaughtered, is to use language too weak to 
describe the sufferings of the children who survive the 
torture they endure. 

We now again embarked, and the following day we 
saw the first crocodile, although we had heard that this 
monster of the southern river was never to be seen below 



172 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



Siout, from which we were yet four or five leagues. He 
was basking tranquilly upon the sandy point of an island, 
and did not appear to perceive our approach until we 
were within gun-shot, so that it seemed impossible that he 
could escape without a ball from one of our two guns, 
that were directed at his most vulnerable part. He very 
slowly, however, took the water, apparently quite unhurt. 



173 



CHAPTEE XXII. 
the eiver nile — continued. 

The Village Kaon-el-Rebirs — The Inundations prevailing here — Admira- 
tion of our Pocket Telescope — Warning of an Arab — Village of Celaouist 
— Improvements in the Nile Scenery — The Cheerfulness of the Women 
— Conduct of Soldiers. 

As we ascended the river, we daily passed several villages, 
but had only the opportunity of seeing their exterior. 
There being less authority exercised by the governors 
in the villages than in the towns, the dwellings of the 
peasantry cannot be always seen by Europeans. Some 
of them are placed upon the immediate banks of the 
river, while others stand back at the distance of one or 
two miles from the stream. We walked, however, round 
the village or town of Kaon-el-Kebirs, on the sixth day 
after we embarked, and as much as we saw here I shall 
relate. 

This place may be seen at the distance of two miles, 
but, when directly in front of it, the view is obstructed by 
a grove of palms which flourish upon the half cultivated 
lands around. We found our way after we landed round 
a field of Turkish wheat, the border of which was like a 
solid wall of eight or nine feet in height. But we had 
some difficulty, by reason of the inundation, in approaching 
the habitations. We at length, however, got upon a solid 
embankment, which brought us within a short distance 
of the houses at the back of the town, but where we 



174 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



found the whole plain between this and the desert still 
covered with the inundation. We had seemed at a dis- 
tance to be objects of some curiosity to the inhabitants, and 
we were now beset by a number of men and children, 
while the women contented themselves by coming no 
nearer than the end of the lanes to see what the strang-ers 
were like. Being well armed, we were desirous of entering 
the streets, but our interpreter was not only opposed to 
this, but refused to attend us ; we therefore contented 
ourselves without going further. But not fully satisfied 
with what the eye alone revealed, I pulled out a pocket 
telescope, which caused a general exclamation of wonder 
among the natives who were near us, who, as they saw 
it used, all petitioned at the same moment to be allowed 
to look through it. The excitement which followed on 
their request being granted soon brought an augmentation 
to our company, and we became the centre of a crowd 
of fellows whose rags and importunity were unpleasantly 
conspicuous. 

At last we contrived to get clear of the greater part of 
these fellows, and, not caring to return immediately to the 
boat, we continued our road along the embankment. 
Some children only, at first, seemed to accompany us, but 
we presently observed one of the Arabs still following us 
at a short distance, and before we had made many steps 
he quickened his pace, and as soon as he reached us he 
begged that we would not proceed further in that direc- 
tion. 'Your heads will be severed from your bodies,' said 
he, drawing his hand at the same time across his throat, 
' if you go further, and the innocent in our village will 
suffer for the guilty fellahs without ; ' and when we pointed 
to our arms, and seemed to disregard his warning, he be- 
came more energetic in his persuasions to us to hasten on 
board our boat at least before sunset, and he even indi- 



THE RIVER NILE. 



175 



cated that we should be better in the middle of the river 
than by the bank during the night, in order to be as far 
as possible from the reach of the barbarous fellahs, who 
occupy the place of our industrious Christian peasantry ; 
and I believe we did well in finally returning to our boat 
before the hour when night screens the fiend-like actions 
of man against man. We did not unmoor, however, but 
kept a strict watch during the night. 

It was difficult, indeed, on this occasion to withclraAV 
from the view of the bright firmament which we had now 
so fair an opportunity of tranquilly beholding. It was the 
same quarter of the heavens to which that branch of science 
was first definitely applied which has rendered us familiar 
with the laws of the Creator before concealed from human 
knowledge — has given us new views in which we may 
contemplate the Author of the universe. 

We must have passed at least an hour in regarding the 
wonders with which the heavens abound, and reflecting 
concerning the grossness of the highest creature which in- 
habits this globe, before we retired to sleep tranquilly 
throughout the night. 

When we issued from our cabins long after sunrise the 
next morning, we found our bark still snugly moored by 
the bare strand, while the dragoman, and the crew, save two 
that kept watch, were still soundly sleeping. Some were 
wrapped in the sails, and others in more convenient defences 
against the musquitoes, the ever-waking enemies of sleep 
wherever they abound. The men were soon awakened, 
and as it was calm they stripped off every article of 
their dresses, jumped on shore, and commenced towing 
the boat. 

About two hours after sunrise we brought up near the 
village of Celaouist. The appearance of the villages 
upon the banks of the Nile, when seen from the water, 



176 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



is peculiar, from the total absence of any variety of 
colour, except occasionally some horizontal stripes upon 
the minaret of a mosque. They look like irregular heaps 
of clay thrown up for some unknown purpose. 

We landed upon a low and sandy strand ; and, by a 
path 6 as false as stairs of sand,' we clambered up with 
our hands and feet, until at the distance of a few dozen 
paces from the commencement of the firm earth we found 
a line of mud huts, sometimes joined and sometimes 
separate. 

The first proper street which we entered was filled with 
small stalls, shaded from the sun by dried palm leaves 
spread upon a frame of poles. In general the dealers 
here sat upon seats in front of their stalls, smoking, and 
seemingly as careless of their sales as if the goods were in 
no instance their own — an indifference which we found 
easier to account for, when we became better acquainted 
with the insecurity and even danger of wealth, if in this 
ill-governed land the little that a villager may gain may 
be so termed. 

The principal things which we saw here for sale were 
bread of the coarsest description, eggs, portions of clotted 
milk, which resembles cheese, pustakes, onions, tobacco, 
sugar, dates, and a coarse ill-mingled description of sweet- 
meats, which was weighed out to purchasers, and ap- 
peared to be the most saleable of all the articles displayed. 
But we found nothing to tempt us to increase our stock 
of anything besides milk and eggs, which were our im- 
mediate wants. 

Save this busy thoroughfare there were here but one 
or two passages that might be termed a street ; but the 
mud hovels were heaped together, or stood apart, for the 
most part without half the order or appearance of design 
that is apparent in the works of the beaver. 



THE RIVER NILE. 



177 



We peeped into several of the houses ; but as there 
were some of the tender sex within them, we could not 
enter. They appeared to contain no article of furniture, 
unless a mud bench may be so termed. But we were be- 
sieged by naked children, and by an old woman, who, 
though veiled, yet was otherwise clad in only the loose blue 
chemise. They all demanded 6 bucksheesh, bucksheesh ! ' with 
great clamour, and what we gave only increased their 
demands, until we left their quarter. 

We now returned to the front of the village and entered 
a coffee-house, the entrance into which was remarkable, 
as resembling those we frequently see at country inns, not 
only in England, but in many other European countries ; 
and that there were similar houses in Ancient Europe is 
apparent from what remains in front of several of the 
houses in Pompei. There was an open porch before the 
door, supported by little posts of wood, and furnished 
with seats, which were now well tenanted with the drowsy 
folks of the land. 

After passing the porch and its dreary tenants, we en- 
tered a coffee-room. It was lighted only by a small win- 
dow on each side of the door, and such was the contrast 
between the rays of the Egyptian sun without and the 
dim light within, that when we first entered we could 
scarcely see anything before us. The full inconvenience 
of this was, however, but of short duration ; and as soon 
as we could perceive anything clearly, we found there 
were clay divans on either side the apartment, and an 
attendant was already engaged in spreading carpet mats 
on one of these for our accommodation, so that we soon 
found ourselves very comfortably seated, without directly 
mingling with any of the native visitors. 

A few words will suffice to name all that was novel to us 
upon our first appearance in a Nile coffee-house. 

N 



178 TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 

Upon a clay hearth, raised a little higher than the knee, 
rested an abundance of coffee-pots, while a large iron 
boiler hung over a little quick charcoal fire, and cups 
of Egyptian manufacture and form were ranged on 
either side, and we were scarce seated when a tolerably 
well-dressed Arab brought us coffee and tchebooks. 

The Egyptian pipe, unless richly ornamented, has little 
peculiar in it except the length of the stick, which is usually 
sufficient to allow the bowl to rest upon the ground while 
the smoker is seated upon a divan about half the height 
of an English sofa. But the coffee-cup is remarkable. It 
consists of two parts ; that which forms the upper part is 
of the same form as our tea-cups without handles, and is 
small, and usually, in the better houses, of porcelain, but 
in others of inferior ware. The other part is larger, and 
made of silver in the better houses, and of inferior metal 
in others. The porcelain cup, as soon as it is filled, 
is placed upon that of metal, and they are presented 
together, and held in the hand until emptied of their 
contents. The coffee is usually served without sugar 
or milk, and with grounds boiled to a paste, or of such 
consistence as to admit of a spoon standing in the 
middle of it. But over this coffee we puffed and sipped 
for a time — perhaps half an hour— when we issued again 
into the open ah, boarded our craft, and set sail with a 
little wind. 

The Nile scenery now improves in interest, notwith- 
standing the more level character of the surrounding 
country, and the villages came oftener into view from 
being more commonly built upon ground a little raised 
above the plain. The more substantial walls, too, by 
which they are generally surrounded, and the increase of 
the number and the greater luxuriance of the groves of 
palms which generally wave by the side or in the rear of 



THE RIVER NILE. 



179 



the habitations, indicate a large exemption from the effects 
of the inundations, which in lower situations sometimes 
sweep away every work of man, and after undermining 
the trees, carry everything away with the current, and 
leave the hves of the inhabitants at the mercy of their 
rulers. 

But the living portion of the scene was that which 
most interested us, and put us in better humour with the 
views as we proceeded. Men, women, and children were 
seen, all following the various occupations which charac- 
terise the native race, and apart from the villages, naked 
peasants were seen more frequently upon the banks, occu- 
pied with the labours of husbandry. 

Near the habitations, men in the picturesque costume 
of the country were sitting and smoking away the pro- 
duce of labour, which, if saved, could scarcely be held 
in security. Women and girls were to be seen every- 
where occupied, some in washing, and some carrying water 
in large pitchers upon their heads ; while the naked 
children were playing with as lively an air as if the 
future were before them eyes, full of hope and 
. prosperity. 

The men in general continued their labours as we passed 
by, in sullen disregard of salutations which we tendered 
them, and more like men to whom slavery was new, than 
the children of an oppressed race. 

Among some of the groups sitting smoking, however, as 
we passed by, we once or twice perceived our greeting 
recognised by a slight wave of the hand, but we never 
succeeded in exciting sufficient interest to cause the 
tchebook to drop for an instant from any smoker's mouth. 
But it was among the gentler sex that we perceived 
more cheering signs of regeneration, and recognised some 
vestiges of former energy and life. Whether working, or 

N 2 



180 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STEIA. 



bathing, or at rest, all the women saluted us in return for 
our greetings with actions more full of welcome than 
words ; and the messages we caused to be bawled out to 
them were returned in pleasant jeers accompanied with 
shouts of laughter. Sometimes they gave us invitations 
to land ; but the moment we showed an inclination to do 
so, there was a general scramble up the banks by the 
younger sort, while the elder women screamed and for- 
bade any such act on our parts. 

As we were in one place sailing near the shore, which 
is the practice in order to avoid as much as possible the 
full strength of the current, one of the smaller of those 
occurrences which characterise a half barbarous people 
came under our observation. A short distance ahead 
of us was sailing a boat with soldiers on board, on 
their way doubtless to join the garrison of one of the 
fortresses in Upper Egypt, and as we seemed to sail 
better than they did, we began to consider whether it 
would be prudent or not to endeavour to pass them by. 
Our dragoman and our crew, however, were very much 
against our making this attempt, for the pilot declared 
that it would be impossible, without sailing close by 
them, which was not supposed to be very safe. But 
while we were discussing this matter rather seriously, we 
observed three, or four of the soldiers leap on shore and 
commence pulling up some turnips from a bed which ran 
along a narrow sloping bank between the cliffs which bor- 
dered the upper land and the river ; and before they had 
procured as many as they could carry, an old man came 
out of some hovel under a cliff, and without approach- 
ing near the robbers began to call upon them to lay down 
their loads, for which he received what was translated to 
us as the coarsest of curses accompanied with laughter 
from the whole crew of the boat to which the soldiers that 



THE KIVER NILE. 



181 



had landed belonged. We of course took no notice of 
what passed, but our pilot was of opinion that this strip of 
ground was all that the old man possessed to support his 
age, and when we inquired whether justice could not be 
obtained for the poor fellow robbed, we were informed 
that no attention would be paid to a complaint against 
soldiers. 



182 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 
the eivee NILE — -continued. 

Arrive at Siout — Denderali — TheRemarkable Temple — Knoft — Tlie Governor 
of the Town — His Behaviour — Young Crocodiles — Depredations of the 
Species — Moored by the River — A Party of Dancing Girls— The Moon- 
light. 

Seveeal villages which we visited do not much differ 
from those already mentioned ; but we arrived at Siout, 
which is one of the larger towns in Upper Egypt. It is 
placed about a mile from the shore on the western side of 
the river, and at a less distance from the mountains which 
commence the desert ; and as there is a causeway to the 
river and another to the heights which border the fertile 
land, the communication on both sides is easy, and the 
ways are always above the influence of the inundations. 
An avenue of trees borders the way for some distance from 
the city towards the river, and the approach to the town 
is more agreeable than the approaches generally to the 
towns and villages in Upper Egypt, while the way upon 
the opposite side conducts to several well-sheltered cata- 
combs, which we visited without observing any antique 
remains. 

The next object which we visited on the Mle, among 
the more worthy of remark was what remains of the 
temple at Denderali, which formerly adorned the ancient 
city of Tentyris. These are said to be the most ancient 
remains of any edifice left in Egypt, and they interested 
us the more from it being believed that the temple was 



THE EIVER NILE. 



183 



partly built by the Egyptian Queen, with a remarkable 
portion of whose history we are well acquainted, and 
whom we see in such splendour upon our stage. More- 
over, there are here also statues which are said to be of 
the queen and of her son, by Julius Caesar. 

In the midst of ruins and rubbish occupying a great 
space of ground the temple still stands in fair preservation, 
to testify the grandeur of ancient Tentyris. Its form is 
that of a parallelogram, and the materials which were 
used in building it appear to have been taken from the 
calcareous rocks which are to be found in all the neigh- 
bouring mountains. 

The roof within the building is painted in fresco with 
azure colour, and the figures in yellow ; it has for some 
thousand years preserved a degree of brilliancy which 
even our advance in the arts has not permitted us to 
imitate successfully. 

The dimensions of the temple, which we measured with- 
out great exactness, was in its front about one hundred 
and thirty feet, and at its sides about two hundred and 
fifty feet. Thus, when we regarded the remains of this 
remarkable temple, and the wretched mud habitations 
now found about it, we could not do less than recall the 
changes which have reduced this once fair portion of the 
earth to a wilderness, inhabited by people as inferior in in- 
tellect to its former inhabitants, as the wretched dwellings 
which they inhabit must be to those of the races of men 
that preceded them. 

The situation of Denderah is about three miles from the 
western shore of the river, on a plain still abounding with 
the more delicious fruits of the country, such as grapes, 
pomegranates, and oranges ; and the temperature of the 
climate is here much moderated by the groves of palms 
which abound. 



184 



TRAVELS IJS T EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



We next arrived at Knoft, where we heard that the 
India merchants had appointed no less a personage than 
the governor of the town as their agent for the sale of tea, 
of which, by reason of the greater expenditure of our store 
than we had calculated upon, we should soon be in want. 
We therefore landed, and our interpreter conducted us 
through narrow streets with stalls, and amidst loose mer- 
chandise, with which the ground was for a greater part of 
the way strewed, until we reached a little square of about 
a hundred feet broad, on one side of which stood the 
chief magistrate's or governor's house. 

This distinguished trader was the first official I had 
seen dressed in the graceful Arab attire, the servants of 
the Pasha being usually Turks, or dressed in the Turkish 
costume. He received us with a degree of politeness 
we had not before met with from any such important 
Egyptian official whom we had seen ; and, delighted with 
his attentions and his whole style and manner, we sat 
down in the court of his house, which was paved with 
stone, furnished with benches, and surrounded with walls 
covered with mats superior to any we had before seen; and 
after purchasing our tea, by the aid of our interpreter we 
kept up an agreeable conversation for some little time. 
But before we departed we were presented with a book, 
in which we found several English and French names, 
accompanied with high complimentary remarks upon the 
merchant and his treatment of them, to which we of 
course added our names with similar remarks, which 
seemed to please. We then rose to take leave, with- 
out inviting the merchant on board our boat, on account 
of the favourable state of the wind and our desire to 
reach the famous ruins of Thebes, the grand object of 
our toils since quitting Cairo, if possible, at an early hour 
on the following morning ; but he volunteered to accom- 



THE RIVER NILE. 



185 



pany us, and we were soon seated upon the divans on 
board, tchebooks in hand, sipping coffee. 

The son of the merchant accompanied his father, and 
as he could not smoke in the presence of his parent, which 
is contrary to Egyptian ideas of delicacy, he was obliged 
to remain a tacit listener to our general conversation, 
carried on through the aid of our interpreter. But while 
this was passing, he managed to lisp in the ear of the 
interpreter that a dozen of good wine and some powder 
and shot would be an acceptable present to his father ; 
and on our hesitating, which we very truly said was on 
account of our approaching a country where such articles 
were not to be replaced, we could perceive in the face of 
the father very plain signs of great disappointment. We 
had but a moment since subscribed to the virtues of the 
governor by placing our names and some friendly remarks 
in the book presented to us with the several other Euro- 
pean names, and we had now to regret our precipitate 
haste in so doing. The governor did not smoke a second 
tchebook, but left the boat, after giving us the usual 
salaam, with cold ceremony, and as he mounted his well- 
caparisoned horse we fired a complimentary salute, and 
immediately set sail with a strong fair wind. 

The wind, however, failed us during the night, and we 
were obliged to moor by the bank in front of a village, 
and the next clay we suffered ourselves to be detained by 
the chase of young crocodiles, which we pursued, some- 
times along the shores of islets in the stream, and sometimes 
along the eastern banks of the river. Those that were 
upon the banks sported along the edge of the water or 
among the shrubs with which the banks were covered. 
They did not seem in general to exceed four or five feet 
in length, and some were much smaller ; but, although 
ball and shot seemed for some time quite unavailing, 



186 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



we did at last succeed in wounding a small one among 
a party that we had been able to approach ; but we were 
disappointed in our attempt to catch the young mon- 
ster, though he kept the surface of the water into which 
he fell, struggling for a minute or two, during which we 
dared not touch him, and then suddenly sank — which may 
account for so many shots being fired and so few crocodiles 
being taken. Those which we saw upon the islets were of 
large dimensions, and our warm imaginations supposed some 
of them to be thirty feet in length, but they were more 
cautious than the smaller sort, and we rarely approached 
within a hundred yards of them, at which distance it was 
not easy to truly judge of their dimensions; but I believe 
that we really saw above half a hundred between ten and 
fifteen feet in length, and one or two above twenty feet ; 
yet, although we fired innumerable balls at them, we could 
not perceive that these had any effect. 

I shall take this occasion of mentioning what we after- 
wards heard from the Turkish governor of Luxor, con- 
cerning the depreda tions of the voracious reptile of the Nile, 
which are sometimes attended with the loss of human life. 
The success of the monster is for the most part confined 
to the occasional capture of a young ox which should at- 
tempt, without the precautions taken by the elder of the 
species, to drink at the stream, and of a few sheep and 
goats ; but he usually slinks away before the upright step 
of the cultivator of the soil, as if instinct could not endure 
the presence of reason ; yet the temptation is sometimes 
too strong for the conservation of this instinctive reverence, 
and men sleeping, fishing, washing, or otherwise engaged 
have become victims, to gorge the craving appetite of this 
amphibious monster. An instance of a boy being taken 
had only lately occurred, a few miles below Luxor. The 
youth had been left to draw a small net with which several 
fishermen had been gathering the young fry of the river. 



THE RIVER NILE. 



187 



Nobody knew the manner of the boy's capture, nor could 
any pursuit be attended with the smallest hope of his reco- 
very. The next day, however, the head and bones of the 
unfortunate victim were found upon one of the sand islets, 
where it appeared the abhorrent reptile had carried his 
sacrifice to devour it. The narrator of this incident in- 
formed us also of instances occurring of children who had 
accompanied their mothers, who were washing clothes by 
the side of the river, being taken and devoured in the 
same manner ; and we had afterwards, in one of the 
villages, the gratification of seeing the body of one of 
these creatures, which had been found floating on the 
river, with, we were told, a hundred balls in his body. It 
was preserved in a case, and we found its full length to 
be sixteen feet, but we were not able to count the wounds 
which it had received. 

Owing to our crocodile hunting we did not reach the 
immediate precincts of Thebes before the sun had set, while 
the moon was wanting some hours of rising, and the night 
was as dark as it could be under the clear and starry fir- 
mament of Egypt. 

We should have here moored for the night, but the 
temptation of touching the shore at Thebes, and the excite- 
ment which the approach towards the great object that 
had been for three weeks the subject of our conversation 
and thoughts, induced us to command our boat to be 
towed up the distance that remained, for which we pro- 
mised our men a backsheesh, and before midnight we 
were attached to the bank upon the eastern side of the 
river within a few hundred yards of the great temple of 
Luxor; and the moon now rose with a splendour that 
eclipsed every star in the eastern heavens before her direct 
beams reached the surface of the broad and rapid stream 
upon the bosom of which we were floating. 

A party of dancing girls, with bare faces, and several 



188 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



half-naked fellows from a village near the ruins, had 
already greeted our arrival. But here it should be remarked 
that these people are neither proper Egyptians nor Mussul- 
mans, but seem to occupy the place of the gipsies in Europe. 
They had, however, departed, and the distraction of their 
rude mirth had died away, when the sovereign of the night 
first appeared to us through the standing columns of the 
great temple of Luxor. We watched the great satellite 
as she slow]y rose above the crowning of the columns 
which had formed the peristyle of the temple, until her 
borrowed rays, with almost solar splendour, enlightened 
the whole valley of the Nile. It was a time, a night, a place 
for contemplation. The stream beneath us, undisturbed by 
any movement of the air, reflected the spangled azure of 
the heavens, while the mountains towards the east still 
cast a shadow over the plain between their bases and the 
river. 



189 



CHAPTEE XXIY. 
the kiver NILE — continued. 

The Ruins at Thebes — The Caverns and Tombs of the Kings — Temple of 
Hagar Sibrili — Temple of Ombus — The Last Village in Egypt — The Isle 
of Elephantine — The Cataract — The Isle of Philoe. 

We had now arrived at that which was the very metropolis 
of Upper Egypt before any era to which exact or certain 
history reaches. The learned Author of the 4 Topography 
of Thebes ' suggests to the traveller who wishes to study 
leisurely the splendid remains of the ancient capital of 
Upper Egypt, to commence with the less interesting and 
smaller monuments on the Libyan side of the Nile ; but 
as a complete examination of the remains of the works of 
art, the imperishable records of the former greatness of 
the Egyptians, was not our object, we chose rather to 
stand at once amidst the ruins of the most important 
temples and palaces — the more astonishing remains of 
edifices connected with each epoch in Egyptian history, 
the mighty works wherein the utmost conceptions of men 
have been so long since realised. 

The greater part of the ancient city, of which we now 
see only the remains of the grander fabrics, was origi- 
nally enclosed within a wall, a great portion of the ruins of 
which still remains. There seems to have been three en- 
closed collections of edifices ; but the grand ruin which 
occupies the centre of the larger enclosure, and is empha- 



190 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



tically called by the topographer the temple of Karnac, 
will be the chief object of the present cursory notice. 

To accomplish our purpose, we set off from Luxor upon 
donkeys at a very early hour. We were about a mile 
and a half from the great temple ; and taking the road by 
the shore, we approached the principal part of these enor- 
mous ruins by the gate upon the west. The great pile, as 
we drew near to it by this approach, presented more gran- 
deur and regularity, as well as symmetrical form, than 
any other. As we came within a stone's-throw of the 
gate, we passed between three or four sphinxes on either 
hand, of which the heads and the backs only appear 
above the soil and rubbish which seems still to conceal 
a long avenue of these works of the monarchs of Egypt 
— of the Pharaohs. All of those that are here laid 
partly bare are mutilated, and do not indicate having pos- 
sessed any of that delicacy of execution which some 
travellers attribute to the monstrous and unnatural conceit 
of a lion's body and a human or ram's head, and some here 
have the one and some the other. 

This avenue of sphinxes must be that which formed the 
passage through which the idol gods of the Egyptians 
passed in their way to the Libyan suburbs, to which it 
appears they once a year promenaded in state ; but what 
may he between this and the proper entrance of the temple 
it is not yet possible to discover, on account of the quantity 
of huge stones and rubbish which have raised the ground to 
half the height of the portals of the great gate and grand 
entrance. But upon the left hand, before reaching the great 
gate, appear the remains of the wall that encircled the 
temples and palaces of the city. 

It is proper, however, that I should here inform the 
reader that such was the condition of my eyes, from the 
effects of the ophthalmia, that I was able to inspect but 



THE RIVER NILE. 



191 



very little of the edifices and monuments at El-Karnak, in 
their condition of ruin and decay. Vision enough, how- 
ever, remained to me to feel the astonishment which 
several other travellers have expressed at their magnitude, 
and to wonder at their durability after the many trials of 
barbarian invasion through which they have passed. Yet 
in Egyptian architecture and scuplture there is not found 
that simple and beautiful united, which we dwell upon so 
feelingly at Athens. All, indeed, rather oppresses the 
senses by its vastness, which seems as if this had been the 
sole aim of the monarchs by whom the greater works were 
designed. So buried indeed are the greater part of the 
temples or palaces, that you may sometimes sit upon the 
capitals upon which their roofs, when they had these, have 
rested. 

Such are the remains of these imperishable monuments 
of a race still extant, now known by the appellation of 
Copts, and bearing the Christian name, yet reduced to in- 
considerable numbers, pining under a yoke so foreign to 
the spirit of their social institutions as to have degraded 
the religion of civilised man to a degree which has ren- 
dered its votaries in Egypt inferior to the mass of their 
Moslem oppressors. 

From the contemplation of the remains of the grand tem- 
ples which preserve the yet uncleciphered stone volumes 
of the records of the ancient inhabitants of this interesting 
land — from the palace where the Pharaohs sat in council 
or entertained the distinguished persons of their courts, 
we turned to visit the silent caverns in the mountains 
where the ashes of the kings of Egypt slept for so many 
ages — to the subterranean homes where they reposed, 
ahke sheltered from the hand of war, and from the ele- 
ments which resolve every composition into its primeval 
substance, without leaving a trace of even the form in 



192 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



which the spirit of man hath acted its part in this short 
stage of its existence. 

In order to reach the tombs, after leaving the plains of 
Thebes, we were condncted through a winding yet broad 
defile between the mountains which form the barrier, 
separating the narrow valley of Egypt from the impenetra- 
ble desert, which remains the same to-day as when the 
posterity of Ham first passed beyond the natural boun- 
daries between the African and Asiatic quarters of the 
globe. The mountains, through the defiles in which we 
passed on our way to the tombs, are of sandstone, and 
they in some places exhibit the action of the air upon 
even their most solid structure, and sometimes there are 
seen fallen and scattered fragments, which indicate the 
effects of the tempest and the unstable foundations upon 
which they rest. An hour's ride through the broad 
defiles, always ascending, brought us to the repositories of 
which we were in search, which are lofty and deep, and 
bear evidence of the respect felt by the Egyptians for the 
remains of then: departed chiefs, no traces of which are 
however now to be found. 

After leaving these tombs we continued to prosecute our 
examination of the ruins of the temples still found in Egypt. 
The next among the more important of those which en- 
gaged our interest was the temple of the Deity Esneh 
(Latopolis) upon the Libyan side of the Nile, and almost 
thirty miles above the ancient capital. The remains of this 
temple are now in the midst of an Arab village very near 
the river. They were the first we saw upon which any 
pains had been bestowed for their preservation by the 
rulers of the barbarian race that now govern in the valley 
of Egypt. The interior of this temple had long ago been 
completely excavated by Mahomet Ali, and there was a 
gate at the end of a narrow passage between the temple 



THE EIVER NILE. 



193 



and some modern hovels which stand immediately in front 
of it. The work performed would have been worthy of 
a more civilised people ; and as the ground around is 
nearly level with the heads of the columns that formed 
the facade and entrance, the excavation must have been 
attended with great labour and expense. 

You descend from the top of the facade by means of 
some of the rubbish left for the purpose by the excavators ; 
and the now subterranean habitation of the Egyptian god 
presents itself in a state of preservation equal to any 
Christian temple erected but yesterday in Europe. 

The temple of Edfou is the next of the Egyptian edi- 
fices which travellers visit ; but I had not the satisfaction 
of seeing it, for I was at this time perfectly blind from the 
effects of the ophthalmia before mentioned, with which I 
had been suffering for some time. 

The next objects of interest which I saw with my com- 
panion in still ascending the river were the quarries of 
Hagar Sibrili, upon the eastern bank. They consist of 
corridors and squares in the bosom of a mountain of sand- 
stone rock, and derive their chief interest from the grottoes 
on the west side, and the impression these give of the 
immensity of the labour that has been employed in their 
excavation. 

We next visited the remains of the temple of - Ombus, 
which is better situated for exterior effect than v any 
other edifice we saw upon the banks of the ISiile, and 
commands extensive views over the river, which is here 
very broad and free from islands, and over the opposite 
wide and fertile plains. But this temple could not be 
entered, on account of the accumulation of sand and 
rubbish around it. ^ V. v 

In just twenty-five days of saihng\and towing from the 
time we left Cairo we arrived^ at Assuan. the last village 




194 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



in Egypt towards the south. It is placed upon the site 
of the ancient Syene, and consists of a miserable group of 
hovels standing below a bold eminence still covered with 
the ruins of the crude brick habitations of the middle age 
of Egyptian history. The heights here command a fine view 
over the country, in some parts rich in all the natural pro- 
ductions which nourish in the vicinity of the ancient capital 
of Upper Egypt, with the contrast of plains, once produc- 
tive, now abandoned and desolate, while the beautiful Isle 
of Elephantine, or the island of flowers, which marks the 
utmost bounds of the Eoman Empire, is now half over- 
grown with the sycamore, the acacia and the thebaine, as 
if it were armed by nature against the visible effects of the 
tyranny and superstition which has almost reduced this 
productive country to a wilderness, and buried its ancient 
inhabitants, so justly entitled to our remembrance, under 
the ruins of the noble monuments, even now seen with 
so much interest. Here the bold Eoman soldier long 
defended the barrier between civilisation and barbarism 
from the defiling effects of superstition and tyranny, which, 
after the decline of that empire, entered into this as well 
as other countries, and reduced the ancient world on all 
sides to incongruous territories of ignorance and bar- 
barism. 

The Mle here runs with great rapidity, and its force 
is visible immediately below the cataract which forms 
the natural boundary between Egypt, and Nubia or 
Eduopia. 

From the heights of Assuan we descended to cross to 
the island, which was so attractive from a distance, and it 
did not appear to us the less so as we walked through its 
natural groves, its thickets, and its half cultivated fields, and 
over the mounds and wastes that mark the site of its ancient 
monuments and its town. The remains of the more re- 



THE EIVER NILE. 



195 



markable monuments of Elephantine are found among 
the overthrown hewn stones which peep above the ground 
or lie scattered amidst heaps of rubbish, among which are 
seen the remains of statues of ancient Egyptian, Eoman, and 
Arab construction. But we found only one statue still 
standing, and this was evidently of a ruder age than the 
rest. 

Having done with our inspection of these remains 
of antiquity, we walked round the isle, on the opposite 
side of which we found a small village inhabited by the 
peasantry employed in the cultivation of such fruits as the 
fine soil is made to yield. But the people here appeared 
barbarous indeed. The women fled to their hovels at 
our approach, while one or two men whom we met passed 
us with an air of positive contempt ; and after passing 
through a thicket upon the Libyan side, we came upon the 
edge of a bank, beneath which by the water-side we saw 
about a dozen men, women, and children, of the same 
temper, occupied together in forming a receptacle for water 
to irrigate the land. 

The inhabitants of the valley of Egypt, generally, it 
has been said, the traveller will find darker and darker 
as he approaches the southern, boundary of the country, 
until the mixture of the Nubian and Egyptian races on the 
borders of these distinct countries exhibits a colour nearly 
half as dark as that of the negro, yet without a vestige of 
the features of that race. We saw no faces of the fair sex 
in this vicinity save those of some dancing girls ; and the 
men of all ages were naked, save the clout at the waist, 
and the women wore the same, with the veil only in addi- 
tion. Among the children who followed us shouting, 
there was hi one instance a girl, grown and formed as a 
European, of sixteen or seventeen years of age, without a 
rag save the clout made by twisted cords of perhaps eight 

o 2 



196 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



inches or hardly that in breadth. We desired to shake 
hands with her, but, laughing, she fled, yet turned with 
the rabble children to follow us as we proceeded. She 
was in form and features the handsomest of the sex we 
had seen ; and, for why we knew not, the only instance, 
save with the dancing girls, that we had observed without 
the usual reserve of the Egyptian women. 

The next day we again disembarked at Assuan, pro- 
cured donkeys, and set off for the purpose, of visiting the 
Island of Philoe, about an hour's ride within the Nubian 
frontier, and the vicinity of which could not be reached 
by our craft without passing the rapids, for which she was 
not well constructed. 

Our way was across a sandy desert strewed with irre- 
gular and enormous red granite rocks. We did not 
proceed by a direct course, but turning sometimes from, 
and at other times towards, the river, Ave passed through 
defiles as well as over hills of rock, in order to obtain a 
close view of the cataract which forms the natural boundary 
between Egypt and Nubia ; but while the Nile is high, 
there is nothing deserving to be called a rapid of the second 
order. The current was running down with great rapidity, 
yet the whirlpools could only be dangerous to ill-con- 
structed, crank Nubian boats in the hands of unskilful 
pilots. The rapid, however, is more dangerous at the 
season that the Nile is low, when some of the better 
of the Egyptian boats sometimes strike upon rocks and 
upset, and cause loss of property and lives. 

As we sat upon the brow of a rock contemplating the 
scene before us, four or five Nubian boys jumped into 
the water, and strove to amuse us with their aquatic 
expertness. 

From the vicinity of the cataract we again threaded the 
winding passage between the rocks, till we came upon 



THE EIVER NILE. 



197 



the more open desert, and thence to the bank of the 
stream opposite the Isle of Philce, which we were about to 
visit. Here we found a boat, in which we embarked, 
when two Nubians rowed us with oars of different forms, 
sizes, and lengths, and unlike anything we had seen before ; 
thus we took an hour to make a passage that a canoe 
or European boat would have made in about fifteen 
minutes. 

The Isle of Philoe is a romantic spot. Though unculti- 
vated, it is productive of the acacia, the thebaine, the 
palm, and other shrubs and trees which are natural in the 
climate. It has abounded in temples, but according to the 
learned traveller Champollion, all here now are of modern 
construction, save the temple of Hathor. At the top of this 
temple, upon the wall of a gallery, we for the first time 
made our private marks upon the rock, for it was here 
we had determined should be the limit of our voyage up 
the Nile, and our marks being upon a rude surface defaced 
nothing. 

After this we descended the river against the wind ; 
but, favoured by the current and with the use of the oars, 
we reached Cairo in a much shorter space of time than 
we had anticipated. 



198 



CHAPTER XXV. 
cairo— continued. 

A Dragoman Educated in Europe — A Judge — The Judge's Politeness— An 
Egyptian Trial — The Judge's Opinion of Napoleon I. — The Independence 
of our Country — The Appearance of the Prisoner — His Defence — The 
Judgment — My Departure. 

On my return from Upper Egypt, I found that my 
former town dragoman, from whom I had parted with 
regret, was now again engaged as a janizary in the service 
of one of the European consuls, and the immediate want 
which I experienced occasioned me to engage a baptized 
Arab, whose Christianity I soon found to be a mere barter 
of the characteristic virtues of Islamism, for some of the 
coarser vices which prevail among Christians — sobriety, 
prayer, and hope, for drunkenness, dishonesty, and lying. 
But the indiscretion which I committed gave occasion 
for my appearance before the chief magistrate of Cairo 
and some conversation with his Excellence, which I shall 
relate ; and as I am writing within an hour from the 
time that I appeared in court, I cannot have so far for- 
gotten the remarks of the good Moslem as to put down 
anything with any great variation from the exact discourse 
that we held. 

The offices appointed for the session of this high offi- 
cial and his assistants in the administration of justice are 



CAIRO. 



199 



in a building which is enclosed within a court. At the 
entrance of this court we found our direct way interrupted 
by a crowd of people attracted by something we could 
not perceive, and I laid my hand upon the shoulder of a 
venerable Egyptian, in order to indicate our wishes to 
pass. The good man turned aside, and those in front of 
him gave way, and we presently stood beside a Turk 
whose quality was apparent from his dress and the deco- 
rations which he wore, and at the same moment he lifted 
a cane which he held in his left hand and began to deal 
the heaviest blows he could inflict upon the back of a 
fine-looking and fairly-dressed Egyptian wearing a sword. 

The sufferer and, doubtless, delinquent displayed great 
patience, and turning half round stooped a little, as if to 
afford a better chance to the cane, or save his head from 
the blows. The chastisement was precisely that which 
our schoolmasters give to their pupils who are idle or too 
impatient of restraint to be always quite obedient to their 
commands ; and as the criminal walked gently away after 
his thrashing, the dragoman whom I had now with me 
informed me that the executor of this piece of justice was 
the chief magistrate, to whom we were on our way to 
prefer my little complaint. 

The dragoman had hardly informed me in whose pre- 
sence we stood, when the chief magistrate observed us, 
and judging no doubt that our business was with him, he 
cleared the way by a wave of his hand, and after desiring 
us to accompany him, he entered the court in front of the 
palace of justice, and we followed him as he mounted a 
flight of stone steps which led to the halls of session. 
Erom the steps we entered a broad corridor, in which 
there were two flights of steps, one of which led to the 
common hall of judgment, and the other to the private 



200 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



or particular judgment chamber. To this latter the ma- 
gistrate led the way. and we followed, surrounded by a 
host of janizaries and inferior officials of the court. 

When arrived here the under-officials kept apart, and 
the magistrate with two of his special assistants, the 
interpreter and myself, proceeded towards a divan which 
was placed beneath a window at one end of the room. 

The magistrate now seated himself upon his heels on 
this divan, at the same time desiring that I would occupy 
the opposite end of it, upon which I immediately reclined, 
for the seats of the divan, being within eight or ten inches 
from the ground and very deep, are difficult to sit upon in 
quite European fashion. His Excellence now ordered the 
tchebook and coffee, which are only offered by the magis- 
trates to those who are esteemed their equals, and which 
immediately came. He nest placed his hand upon his 
breast, and addressing me through the dragoman, he de- 
clared that my unexpected appearance had filled his heart 
with excess of joy, and that he trusted that I should 
not leave his roof before he had rendered me some 
especial service. Upon this I became apprehensive that 
he had mistaken the object of my visit, and perhaps taken 
me for a British emissary or new ambassador come to 
make myself known to his Excellence. But upon being 
informed by the interpreter, who had already spoken a 
few words concerning the object of my visit, that the 
chief already knew my wishes, I desired that he might be 
informed that I felt greatly the honour of being seated in 
the presence of a magistrate equally known and esteemed, 
by the Egyptians and by strangers, for his wisdom and 
justice. But although this was the impression which I 
had received from what I heard at a coffee-house, I 
quickly began to consider whether I might not be saying 



CAIRO. 



201 



too much, but before I had time to think further, my 
dragoman informed me that the opinion I had expressed 
was precisely that which the judge was well known to 
deserve ; and certainly to have been slow to say so much 
would have been to ill-repay the compliments which he 
had paid myself. My return, therefore, for what he had 
said, which was dictated by immediate impulse, should be 
a proof that praise so given may be merited ; and as long 
as I remember the wise precept of Don Quixote, that 
' Hell is full of the ungrateful,' I will not be afraid of ut- 
tering my thoughts before I have coldly reasoned against 
nature. 

But the tchebooks came, and one was presented to the 
chief magistrate and one to myself, and with the puffing 
our real business commenced. 

I suggested to the interpreter, that it might perhaps be 
better that the culprit of whom I had to complain should 
be present ; but, being informed that this was unneces- 
sary, I made my case known ; and as soon as the magis- 
trate was in possession of the heads of my complaint he 
at once despatched a janizary, accompanied by a soldier, 
in search of the defendant, and as a full hour passed 
away before they returned, we spent the time in conversa- 
tion, and the heads of our discourse I propose to transcribe 
with as much accuracy as may he in my power. 

Puffing and drinking smoke among the Egyptians 
is commonly for a time a mute operation. The smoker, 
after the first few puffs, casts his eyes upon the ground, 
and does not seem to feel any exhilarating influence 
from the fumes of the fondly courted herb, until the 
agency of a second cause brings forth its exciting effects. 

When the chief magistrate had bid the dragoman 
stand apart from the rest of the attendants, who placed 



202 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



themselves at some distance, lie reclined against a pillow 
of the divan, and puffed in silence, and I followed his 
example, scarcely comprehending what was to follow. 
But while I was surveying the phalanx of janizaries, 
who stood all well accoutred with pistols and side arms, 
which advantageously contrasted with the stout cane of 
their chief, a picture hanging against the wall struck my 
attention. It was a rude coloured print, set in a ruder 
frame of about three feet in length and two feet and a 
half in breadth, and exhibited the idol of the French of a 
day now passed. I half rose to read the subscription, 
which I found to be that of the well-known painting in 
the Parisian collection of which it was a copy, 'De quel re- 
giment est-ce que vous etes le caporal ? ' and the move- 
ment which I made caused a break in the silence. 
The countenance of the magistrate, which before expressed 
nothing, was now lighted up with apparent curiosity, and 
he asked me, by means of the interpreter, what were my 
thoughts of the soldier who was the subject of the paint- 
ing, to which I replied very shortly, 

' Not precisely those of a Frenchman.' 

4 But you allow him to have been a great hero ? ' 

' He was too fond of fighting without sufficient 
cause.' 

At this reply the chief magistrate's eyelids rose as high 
as might express a Turk's surprise ; but while he moved 
his lips only to puff a little more voraciously than before, 
the interpreter explained to me that these greater draughts 
and emissions of the agreeable fumes were the preparative 
of a concerted reply — that the magistrate had been a 
soldier, and had seen a great deal of fighting under Ibra- 
him Pasha in the Viceroy's armies in Syria, and had been 
wounded in the right arm, which accounted for the use 



CAIRO. 



203 



which, as we had just witnessed, he was accustomed to 
make of his left. 

The chief now placed his tehebook across his 
right arm, and when I expected a concerted attack, he 
only observed, that Napoleon had at least subdued the 
greater part of Europe. 

'Nothing is more true,' I replied. 'Napoleon was a 
great soldier, but he used his victories to destroy. He 
annihilated nations and trampled upon all that was held 
sacred by the sanction of time and reason, till he believed 
the goddess whom he worshipped, and to whom we ascribe 
power over the fortuitous affairs of men, completely sub- 
dued to his will, and he marched on in blood until his fickle 
patron forsook him, and the long-victorious general was 
vanquished on many memorable plains, where he made his 
later efforts against liberty and truth. Yet the country of 
the greatest of Napoleon's enemies was not even invaded, 
and it remains doubtful whether the world united could 
have tarnished the escutcheon of the monarch of that 
free people. Strength against aggression consists at 
all times in union, and the more free the subjects of our 
sovereign the more assured will be the union of the British 
people. Nevertheless, for the victories of Napoleon a 
Frenchman may be justly proud.' 

The magistrate, who seemed to have given his attention 
to these observations as they were interpreted, now de- 
manded whether he understood me from the beginning 
to say that Napoleon was not a great hero, to which I 
replied at more length than need be repeated here, using 
such arguments as I thought most fit to impress him with at 
least my own sentiments concerning heroism ; and I trust 
I did not misrepresent the feelings of my countrymen in 
general, in drawing an impassable line between the merits 



204 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



of a general whose skill and courage are eminent in 
the destruction of his species, the subversion of social 
order, and the annihilation of nations — and the merits of 
the soldier who should be the right arm of the weak, aud 
the leader of armies which combat for the freedom of 
their country or their allies. 6 And what,' I added in 
conclusion, ' should be thought of generals of this latter 
class, whose troops have vanquished the mere soldiers of 
fortune, and dispersed or destroyed their lawless hordes, 
who, did they see with the eyes of their children's children, 
would be ashamed when they looked back upon the deeds 
in which they gloried until the hour of their overthrow ? 

To these observations the Turk listened attentively ; 
then, recurring to what seemed to have most struck him, 
he replied in such a manner as I did not expect from a 
Turkish soldier. 

'No war,' said he, ' can be just on both sides.' 

Upon this I attempted to show that our wars, at least, 
had usually been just, adding, that to that principle we 
thought we were indebted for their success. 

But here the chief magistrate resumed his tchebook, 
and as I thought proper to follow his example, there 
seemed to be a conclusion to the discourse. It was not 
so, however, and it was again renewed ; and when I 
thought I tolerably well understood the character of the 
Turk's opinions generally, I made a few observations 
upon what I believed to be the condition of Egypt in re- 
lation to the Christian powers, in the hopes of drawing 
the magistrate into a different subject of discourse ; but 
the idol of the French soldiers was still uppermost in his 
thoughts, and he now said, 

4 But for the cold of Eussia and the navy of England, 
Napoleon would have fully conquered all Europe.' 



CAIRO. 



205 



To which I replied, that we were here perfectly in 
accord. 

4 But suppose,' said the chief magistrate, ' he had abso- 
lutely conquered Eussia in the campaign in which he 
was defeated by the cold, what would have been his next 
move ? ' 

e Having thus,' said T, 4 overcome one of the two grand 
obstacles to universal dominion, he would without a doubt 
have made further attempts to overthrow the fleet of the 
enemy upon whose soil he could not tread before he had 
vanquished many heroes. But in order to this end he 
would probably have joined all the navies of Europe 
against our hitherto victorious British fleets. Kay, but 
had he even landed on our isle we were even there pre- 
pared, and the hitherto fortunate soldier's career might 
have been stopped, and he might have died in the same 
prison which received him at a later period.' 

4 1 am well aware of your naval power,' said the Turk. 
c I have heard Frenchmen acknowledge it. But do you 
think that your fleets could have successfully opposed 
the marine of all Europe united, including even that of 
the Ottoman Empire ? for this might have been the condi- 
tion upon which we could have retained our national in- 
dependence. That hero, or soldier,' he said, half correct- 
ing himself with a smile, 'had aspirations above those of 
common mortals. One God in Paradise, one on earth ! ' 
Then looking at me he added, 4 Were not those the French 
soldier's words ? ' 

4 In England,' said I, ' we do not regard the boasts of a 
soldier.' 

6 It was at least,' continued he, 4 the expression of his 
acts, and deeds express designs in stronger emphasis than 
words. All Christians and Mussulmans alike were 



206 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



within the circle of his intended conquests, and the sub- 
mission of the Porte alone put a stop to his march to 
Constantinople. But I should add,' he continued. 4 that I 
am as well pleased as any Englishman can be, that he did 
not effect his ends ; for if one man should ever rule the 
whole Christian world, there should ever be another 
reigning over all the Moslems.' 

I did not here directly reply, but I inquired of the 
interpreter whether he believed he had reported very cor- 
rectly all the observations of the Egyptian magistrate, but 
more especially that portion of them in which he men- 
tioned the name of the Deity in unison with that of the 
soldier who had been the subject of our conversation, and 
from his reply I believe what I have reported to be as 
exactly as can be the words of the chief magistrate of the 
capital of Egypt. 

He continued, c But as to the difficulties you announce 
concerning the conquest of England, you must remember 
that in war there is such a thing as starving out the enemy, 
and is it not the fact that the food of the Enghsh is in a 
great part that which other nations produce ?' 

I was sorry to agree with the Turk that we might cer- 
tainly for a time, were we completely blockaded, find 
some difficulty in feeding our population. But I added, 
that our legislature never foresaw a war in which our 
country alone should be attacked by all the world ; nor, 
even thus, would they fear that the world united could 
entirely cut off our intercourse with our colonies and 
possessions beyond sea, in climates where nature is more 
abundant than in Britain, and where the proportion of 
population, either idle, or employed in such occupations 
as do not furnish the increase of the earth, is so much 
smaller than in our island, that they could tolerably 



CAIRO. 



207 



supply the mother land in every crisis whatever. But 
let us hope that true knowledge may increase, and 
be the means eventually of uniting in sentiment all the 
inhabitants of the earth, and of spreading every kind of 
knowledge, but especially that tending to establish true 
freedom, in which the sovereigns, as may be seen by the 
happy relations of the sovereign of England, have as great 
an interest as their subjects. 

I have thus far reported a conversation which lasted 
through two tchebooks and a part of a third, and I have 
translated as literally as possible the words of the Egyptian 
soldier. But the baptized Arab now arrived under the 
escort of a janizary and a soldier, and being told to stand 
forward, he obeyed the stern command. I now observed 
the fully open and penetrating eye of the magistrate 
steadfastly fixed upon the prisoner, who, trembling 
from the combined effects of inebriety and terror, cast 
his eyes upon the feet of the judge, wmose face he might 
not dare to look upon. I confess feeling some 'com- 
punctious visitings' lest the punishment should be out of 
proportion to the offence ; and while the magistrate con- 
tinued smoking, I remembered that it was in my own 
country that the criminal had fallen into his present 
condition, and I felt almost changed already from the 
accuser to the defender. 

After one or two more puffs of the tchebook, the 
magistrate drew the amber from his hps with as tardy an 
action as a bridegroom might withdraw himself from em- 
bracing his bride. A Nubian slave then stepped forward, 
and after giving the salaam, removed the pipe from his 
hands. I then followed the example of the judge, and a 
second slave attendant with the same ceremony took mine 
into his keeping. 



208 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



The magistrate now cast his eyes upon the janizary 
who stood upon the right hand a few paces from the 
prisoner, and the janizary, seeming to understand his 
meaning as well as if he had been asked a direct question, 
said in reply, 

4 1 bring the prisoner from the citadel, where he has 
been since yesterday in close confinement.' 

There needed no inquiry for what fault, for the marks 
of inebriety showed plainly the cause of his castigation. 

Then said the magistrate, addressing the prisoner in a 
tone which became the dignity of his office, ' What is 
your name ? ' 

' Ab el Hassan,' said the prisoner. 

Upon this the magistrate looked at me inquiringly, and 
demanded of the interpreter whether I understood the 
signification of the words that composed this name ; and 
when I asked whether they did not mean, as I believed 
they did, 4 The Father of Beauty,' the muscles of the 
magistrate's face contracted, and, as plainly as it might be 
proper for a Turk, confirmed my impression. Then, 
after a short pause, he requested I would prefer my 
complaint. 

And now, through the same means that I had before 
employed, I stated all I had to say against the offender, 
which, as before mentioned, consisted in the charges, first, 
of drunkenness, so abhorrent in the eyes of a people for- 
bidden by their prophet even to taste wine, and which is 
made the more easy to obey by the abundance of a better 
beverage promised them in Paradise, with all the good, 
without the intoxicating effects, of wine on earth ; and 
again, I accused him of breach of orders and negligence 
in general ; and finally of quitting my service with pre- 
meditated and fraudulent design. 



CAIRO. 



209 



It was not. indeed, until I had experienced the culprit's 
attempt to defraud me, that I had determined to bring 
him before the chief in whose presence he now stood. 
At his request, accompanied by very artful attentions. I 
had paid him a month's wages in advance at the very 
time he was making arrangements to quit me. Supposing, 
no doubt, that I should suffer with the least patience the 
inconvenience of being alone, he had brought and left in 
his place an Arab of some pretensions ; and as soon as this 
man had entered, the culprit walked out of the house, and 
I saw him no more, until his entrance into the chamber 
where he now stood. But instead of neglecting any 
further inquiry. I thought it doubly incumbent upon 
me to pursue him to the issue, and therefore proceeded 
in the manner the most proper to bring him to this 
court 

When I had made my brief statement of my complaints 
against Ab el Hassan, the trembling criminal began his 
defence by the use of the common weapon of rogues, a 
he. but so unvarnished and so unlike the truth, that it was 
at once apparent to the astute understanding of the judge, 
who immediately indicated the terrible consequences 
that he had determined should attend any prevarica- 
tion, or a second lie ; and his warning had so good an 
effect, that the • Father of Beauty ? now made a direct 
confession of his guilt, and this led to the business details 
concerning security for the return of the money that had 
been given him. which he immediately produced ; and 
after some words in his favour from myself, he was released, 
without the inrliction of any further pains in addition 
to those he had already suffered from imprisonment. 

When Ab el Hassan had left the hall, the chief magis- 
trate turned towards myself and observed, that the 

p 



210 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



fellow was thoroughly bad ; and that if I had not desired 
it otherwise, he would certainly have received the punish- 
ment he merited. He then emphatically added, 

' I greatly respect European Christians.' 

I understood his meaning — that he did not respect con- 
verted Arabs ; and I replied, 6 Your charity must be 
great, for you see but few fair specimens of the European 
people among those who dwell in Egypt.' 

' I have seen Christians enough,' said he, 6 to know that, 
if there be faults among you, there are also virtues ; but 
the Arabs that have forsaken Islamism seem to have 
learned all the vices of the Christians, and to have troubled 
themselves but little about their virtues.' 

6 If this be true,' I replied, as I rose from the divan, 
4 the consequences are the worse, that the European 
refugees in Egypt, with whom the supposed converts 
are thrown, bear the name of Christians, without the 
least pretensions to be of the Christian faith. The prophet 
of your nation, as you well know from the Koran, vene- 
rated the Messiah ; there is therefore more Christianity in 
your Scriptures — your religion — than in any Scriptures or 
any religion these Europeans acknowledge.' 

6 1 have heard,' then said the magistrate, 6 the same 
opinion from several of your countrymen concerning the 
Europeans we have residing in Egypt.' 

i I speak, however,' I replied, ' of some of those only 
whom you call Franks, and among whom such few of my 
countrymen as reside here clo not allow themselves to be 
classed. The Frank residents are commonly political, but 
sometimes criminal, refugees from several of the Euro- 
pean countries, but the name ought not at any time to 
apply to the respectable French or English.' 

The latter part of this conversation took place while we 



CAIRO. 



211 



were standing, at the moment I was about to depart, and 
I took leave of the worthy magistrate, in expressing the 
pleasure our discussion had given me, which he declared 
could not be greater than that which he had received. 
But I fear that I rather awkwardly, though I am sure very 
sincerely, replied to the invocation the Turk still added, 
which was to implore the blessing of heaven upon all my 
future undertakings. But after I had, as well as in my 
power, expressed my wish that he would receive the 
favour of heaven and of his sovereign, we exchanged the 
accustomed salaam, and I left the chamber. 



p 2 



212 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
cairo — continued. 

A Literary Society — The Tchebooks — Coffee — Conversation — Concerning a 
Present sent to the Pasha— An Egyptian's Opinion of the Europeans. 

In the report already given of such observations as I 
have been able to make in Cairo, no notice has been taken 
of a literary society founded by the European consuls, 
and of which I have the honour of being a member. 

On my arrival from the upper country, I found that 
our resident members had agreed to hold weekly conver- 
saziones, and as I attended the first of these, I will not 
omit such a notice of the evening as may seem to accord 
with the pretensions of these sketches, seeing that to 
societies such as this the world has been indebted for 
those important discoveries which have already thrown 
great light, and will throw more, upon the ancient history 
of one of the most interesting nations of antiquity, a na- 
tion, moreover, connected with even the Jewish annals — 
the land of refuge of Abraham and of Jacob, and of the 
training of Joseph — the land which was the scene of the 
greater of the miracles recorded in the Pentateuch — nay, 
the asylum of Him, when on earth, whom we associate 
with our common Creator, and through whom we offer 
our adoration, our prayers, and our thanksgivings. 

A few days after my return, I received a formal notice 
from the honorary secretary of the society, of the day 



CAIRO. 



213 



fixed for the first conversazione and I did not fail to attend. 
The parties present were chiefly the European consuls 
and consuls-general, with several Egyptian Beys, and one 
or two Europeans of the same rank in the civil and 
military service of the Pasha, in Turkish costume, besides 
several European travellers. 

The meeting was at first dull, and it was difficult to 
perceive why, until a file of servants, belonging to the 
members generally, entered, every one with a tchebook 
for his employer; whereupon the countenances of the 
most gloomy became gay, and their tongues were soon 
excited to commence the more appointed business of 
the hour. 

The tchebooks were carried by domestics with the 
formality of drill, and varied in costly appendages from 
the large amber-mouthed, silk-covered, tasselled-stick and 
choice bowl from some five-and-twenty pounds and more 
in value, to my own simple ebony, which will not I fear 
be imitated, of the value of little more than an English 
sovereign. 

Thus armed, the well-dressed and graceful Arab domes- 
tics entered the chief room of our meeting, without scarce 
the variation of a degree in the position in which every 
one carried the tchebook of his employer, in his right 
hand, in about the direction in which we point the quill 
in writing, the bowl of the tchebook sweeping about an 
inch from the ground, while the mouth-piece of amber at 
the other extremity passed over the right arm. 

The presentation, indeed, of this gaudy instrument of 
pastime is one of the necessary studies of an Arab servant, 
and he that does this important service awkwardly can with 
difficulty redeem so great a want in his expected accom- 
plishments. As he approaches the divan upon which the 
gentleman to whom he is to present the tchebook sits, he 



214 



TRAVELS 15 EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



makes a sweep with the choice instrument round the half 
circle, which brings the amber towards the person to 
whom it is to be presented. He next stoops to put the 
tehebook into the right hand of the expecting smoker ; 
and then rising, places his own right hand upon his bosom 
and retires. 

The company generally have each his own tehebook, 
which it is the rule his servant should bring, but if any 
of the guests, as is sometimes the case, are without their 
tchebooh, they have those of other members constantly 
passed to them, when all puff and puff for a time very 
satisfactorily. 

I do not know whether the opinion be just or not, 
but it has appeared to me, that this instrument of 
luxury is like the glass, either full of ideas and a great in- 
centive to conversation, or more soporific and destructive of 
the flow of intellectual discourse than opium ; but if experi- 
ment and observation be in this as hi other cases the best 
tests of truth, a party of smokers should offer an oppor- 
tunity to the meanest comprehension, to make such just 
observations as to throw a ray or two of useful light upon 
what should, by no means, be an indifferent matter to all 
men, both of the civilised and demi-civihsed world. 
Leaving, however, this question open for the acute obser- 
vation of more philosophical judgments, it will better 
become the pretensions of these sketches merely to notice, 
that livelier spirits seemed to animate every member of 
our mixed company very soon after the puffing com- 
menced. 

Coffee was served with the tchebooJcs, and when that 
was disposed of, some of the party walked two and two, 
and some formed little groups sitting or standing, while 
others played cards in the library adjoining. A French 
gentleman and myself walked round the library, which 



CAIRO. 



215 



was well enough furnished with books. On one side, the 
shelves bent under a pile of Arabic and a few Turkish 
volumes, all of the golden age of the Moslems, and on the 
other were many of the choice works of the European 
historians, from the 'Father of History' down to the 
latest publications in the greater European kingdoms. 

After promenading here for a short time, my companion 
and myself returned to the divan apartment, which was 
soon so filled with exhalations from the coveted herb 
that the gay dresses of the Egyptians and the white 
faces of Europeans were almost all that could be distin- 
guished. 

We were now offered punch in addition to the tchebook, 
and I presently found myself reclining upon a divan by 
the side of an Egyptian Bey, whom I thought might be 
able to solve a question I had heard discussed several 
times since my return from Upper Egypt ; and this was, 
whether the Pasha had or had not received favourably a 
present sent him by the English merchants interested in 
the safety of travellers and mails passing the desert on 
their way to our dependencies in India. 

I mquired of him, without any preamble, whether he 
had heard anything concerning it. 

8 A very little,' he said, 4 but perhaps nobody will hear 
more. It is not a matter for conversation among any 
persons about, or dependent on, his Highness. What 
little I have heard has been from your countrymen. 
They do not think the reception entirely satisfactory. 
Europeans, especially the English, act always too precipi- 
tately. Your merchants should have taken care to learn 
before sending the present what might be most acceptable, 
or at least what might not be objectionable. The Pasha's 
religious feelings should be especially respected. English- 
men who are accustomed to think and act freely ought to 



216 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



be the last to disregard the feelings of others ; and this 
present was probably almost understood as an act of con- 
tempt for the religious opinions of the Viceroy, and these 
may be very strong. We can only indeed judge from 
what is apparent, which is in favour of the Pasha's sincere 
belief in the revelation we possess.' 

6 And what was there in the present offered,' said I, 
c that might give offence ? ' 

c There was that,' said the Bey, 6 which is abhorrent to 
all Mussulmans, a violation indeed of the laws of the 
Koran, and also even of the first code which you your- 
selves believe was given by the Creator to man — a 
statue, the graven image of his Majesty himself.' 

But here the Bey, being much pressed to play a game 
of chess in the library with a European stranger, took 
leave of me, and his place was supplied by another 
Egyptian who was sitting on the opposite side of the 
same divan with myself, and who turned about imme- 
diately, and, as if he would not allow a breach in the dis- 
course, at once said, 

' The Bey with whom you have been conversing was 
right. There always appears to us to be something in 
the address of an Englishman which sets at defiance all 
confidential intercourse, and which we cannot reconcile 
with the character of your government, known everywhere 
as the instructors of the ignorant and the protectors of the 
oppressed.' 

The Egyptian here stopped speaking, and I thought it 
better to expect more, than to make a hasty reply ; but 
as he exceeded the number of puffs of the tchebook which 
I had remarked made the accustomed length of an Egyp- 
tian's repose in discourse, I observed, that I should much 
like to hear his further opinions, which I felt sure would 
be those of his countrymen in general concerning the 



CAIEO. 



217 



English. Then after two or three inordinate puffs he 
continued. 

6 1 am not able to say much on this subject,' he replied, 
6 for what I have heard has been generally from Europeans, 
and I do not place much reliance upon what one European 
says of another of a different nation. I have heard a 
Frenchman ascribe the gloomy disposition you appear to 
possess, to the fogs and vapours of your climate, and I have 
heard a German apologise for your discourteous address, by 
declaring that he never knew an Englishman thoroughly, 
without having an opposite opinion of him to that which 
he had formed upon his first acquaintance. The gloom, 
therefore,' he added, 'ascribed to Englishmen can be 
nothing more than reserve arising from the greater dis- 
tinction of rank in society in their country than in the 
continental countries generally,' 



218 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 

MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 

Our First Night in the Desert — Appearance of a Comet — The Cries of the 
Jackal — A Party of Pilgrims — The Treatment of the Camels — The 
Locusts — Encamp near Suez — Examination of the reported Pass of the 
Jews — Departure for Mount Sinai— Pilgrims — Hieroglyphics Inscribed — ■ 
A remarkable Track of Ants— A Burial Groimd — Arrival at the Convent 
at the foot of Mount Sinai — Inspection of Tombs — A Maniac — Ascent of 
Jebel Musa— Ascent of Mount St. Katherine. 

I left the capital of Egypt on my journey towards 
Mount Sinai on March 7, accompanied by Mr. Henry 
Woodhead, the Author of 6 Memoirs of Christina, Queen 
of Sweden,' Mr. Bower, and Mr. Stevens.* We had nine 
camels of burden, which carried the tents and other neces- 
saries, and were driven by nine Arabs, under the super- 
intendence of a sheykh ; we had also nine dromedaries, 
which were ridden by ourselves, our four dragomans, 
a cook, and a domestic, who aided in the preparation of 
our meals. 

It is the custom when making this journey to set off 
late in the day, in order that after encamping and passing 
the first night near the town, the dragomans may discover 
what necessaries are wanting, which can be sent for 
in the morning ; and we followed this practice, and 
descended from our dromedaries and encamped a little 
before sunset. 

While we were raising our tents, we were surprised 

* There was a railway as far as Suez, but as this was a small part of our 
journey we did not avail ourselves of its advantages. 



MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 



219 



by the faint appearance of a light in the sky, which, as 
the daylight diminished, we found to be from a comet; 
The elevation of the luminous body was not now or 
during the night more than six or seven degrees above 
the horizon, and as the darkness deepened it exhibited 
a body of superior brightness, and a tail of much 
greater length than any one of us had before seen; 
but, at the elevation at which it appeared with us, it 
could not of course have been seen in any part of Europe. 

As soon as it was day on the first morning after our 
leaving Cairo, we rose and despatched two of our dra- 
gomans to obtain such articles as we found ourselves 
still needing, and about noon, without waiting for their 
return, we were prepared and recommenced our journey. 

The country as we now proceeded was slightly undu- 
lating, but the ground firm and* easy to pass over ; and 
in the afternoon we were joined by our two dragomans, 
who had returned to the city in the morning, and we en- 
camped again about fifteen miles from Cairo. 

The comet now again attracted our interest, and as 
soon as the daylight disappeared, it was as bright as on 
the preceding night, and we could only account for having 
heard nothing of its appearance at Cairo, as, from its 
low altitude, it would be hidden from the town gene- 
rally by the buildings. 

During the night the cries of the jackal, called the lion's 
provider, on account of his being said to arouse the beasts 
upon which the lion preys, rather amused than disturbed 
us for some time after we had lain down. 

On the following day we broke up the encampment at 
an early hour, and were soon on our way. Before the 
middle of the day we met a party of pilgrims coming 
from Mecca, who had among them several ladies, all of 
whom were seated on covered sedans set on the backs of 



220 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



their camels, with curtains nearly all round, and they 
were of course well veiled. 

We halted again a full hour before dusk, when our 
camels were all turned loose to obtain their food in the 
desert. This chiefly consists of the cactus plant, though 
they eat other herbs when they are to be found, but this 
is rarely the case in the desert. Soon after the sun had 
set, we observed that the stranger in the heavens which 
had surprised us on the first night of our journey had a 
little diminished in brightness. 

On the morning of the 10 th of the month we left our 
encampment at eight o'clock, and very soon after setting 
off, passed the mid-station of our journey as far as 
Suez. In the middle of this day myriads of locusts 
passed over us, and they flew so low that some of them 
struck against ourselves or our camels and fell, and had 
our eyes been closed they would have given us more the 
impression of a shower of hail than of a mass of living 
creatures. 

The comet had to-night very sensibly diminished in 
brightness. 

The next day we were a little delayed in our departure 
by the difficulty of collecting the camels, some of which 
had strayed to a great distance, and the land being much 
undulating, they were with great difficulty found. These 
eccentric beasts are generally enticed to return to the 
camp in the morning by the Arabs having a feast of beans 
prepared to offer them, before the commencement of the 
day's journey ; but on this occasion our camels seemed 
to have found during the passed night too good a supply of 
the herb of the desert, the cactus, to be induced to return. 

We had more of hill and dale to-day than before, and 
we could perceive higher lands upon our right hand. 

On the following day, at a late hour, we encamped a 



MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 221 

few hundred yards north-west of Suez, with the Eed Sea 
before us, upon the right bank of which towards the south 
appeared some remarkable hills. 

The appearance in the sky was now but faint, which 
was partly caused by the increase of the light from the 
moon which was shining. 

On the morning after our arrival at Suez we bathed in 
the Eed Sea at an early hour, and afterwards walked 
round the little town, then returned to the camp and 
wrote our letters to Cairo, which we gave in charge of 
her Majesty's consul here. 

The next day we engaged a boat and descended the 
gulf to a part where it is generally supposed that the 
Israelites crossed when pursued by Pharaoh and his 
Egyptian hosts. We at least observed that this was the 
narrowest part of the gulf below Suez, without being 
north of the high lands called Jebel Attaka ; if they had 
reached these they would then have been able to pass 
round the gulf, and have left no occasion for the won- 
derful miracle that must have been performed to admit of 
their passage between walls of water on both sides, which, 
if we may judge from the depth of the sea at this clay, 
must have been of the height of from 150 ft. to 200 ft., 
for the distance of nine or ten miles. 

On the 14th of the month we broke up the encamp- 
ment at a late hour in the morning, and first proceeded 
a little northward to make the round of the gulf. 

We then descended by its left bank, until we came to 
the place where the Israelites must have landed if they 
crossed the sea from the point we had the day before 
visited. We here counted eight springs, all of which are 
of brackish water, and they are called Moses' springs. 
We met, also, with other springs at the higher parts of 
the hills in the vicinity, all equally unpleasant to the taste, 



222 



TRAVELS m EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



The French consul stationed^ at Suez had established 
something resembling a farm here, which we heard was 
managed by a Canadian upon the terms called in Canada 
4 the halves ' ; that is, dwelt upon and worked by one who 
is not the owner, with the profits divided between the 
occupier and owner. 

We set off the next morning at nine o'clock, and after 
crossing a few miles of rough and hilly ground we entered 
upon a narrow plain called Wady Suda, in the midst of 
which we encamped at about half-past three o'clock. 
The sea was still to be seen, and the high lands on the 
opposite coast. The first hving creature that we saw in 
this part of the desert ran across our path to-day. It 
seemed to me to have the form of a lizard, but it was 
furred, and was the colour of the ground, or light brown, 
and did not run very fast, nor seem frightened ; but we 
were not prepared to catch or shoot it, before it entered a 
hole in the ground. 

The next day, which was the 16th, while we were 
preparing to depart, three pilgrims on foot from Mecca 
made their appearance. They held in their hands empty 
vessels, which they turned upside down and presented to 
us with great earnestness, which plainly indicated their 
want of water, and we gave them, to their great satisfac- 
tion, as much as they could drink. We then offered 
them some biscuits, which they firmly refused, while they 
thanked us in the most touching manner for the relief 
they received from the water. 

Towards the afternoon we met many other pilgrims on 
foot at distances of a mile or two apart. The first question 
they all asked was : 4 How far are we from Suez ? ' Only 
two of the parties seemed much distressed by fatigue ; 
and one of these, consisting of three men by no means 
young, seemed hardly able to draw their legs after them. 



MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 223 



There passed us also two women on foot and three on 
camels, two of the latter having children. 

The next day we passed through ravines between hills 
and mountains all the route, and we halted for a short 
time to rest our beasts at the Wady Lisbeccee, after which 
we passed the Wady Besit, where there is a sort of well, 
at the bottom of which was some water of a chalky colour, 
and brackish. In the evening we observed a thunder- 
storm at a great distance passing towards the east, and 
we had a little rain. 

On the 18th we crossed a very interesting wady, with 
the scenery sometimes picturesque and sometimes grand. 
It was about three miles in diameter, and formed a perfect 
panorama. We here passed a track filled with ants 
moving backwards and forwards, and upon alighting from 
our camels we found their line to be nine or ten inches 
in breadth and about five or six inches in depth, and if 
it were formed, as it must have been, by the tramp of 
these industrious insects, it could not have been trodden 
for less time than some thousands of years. Our curiosity 
indeed was so much excited by what we saw, that we 
wished to trace the path of these remarkable creatures. 
But it was not clear to us in which direction to turn, for 
they appeared to meet one another upon the track, which 
they fully covered. We traced them, however, in the 
direction which seemed to be the least out of our way, 
for a mile or two without finding any change in either the 
form or dimensions of the track or the number, as it 
appeared, of the travellers. But by this time, as the 
ground was undulating, we were obliged to give up our 
pursuit lest we should lose sight of, and not again dis- 
cover, our caravan. 

After this we passed a series of ravines, where we 
observed some hieroglyphics inscribed. The following is 



224 



TRAVELS Iff EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



a copy of one of these engravings upon the side of a rock 
projecting from a wall of cliffs. 



(. t] a &- b u ( 

Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon we 
crossed a sandy hill of very gradual ascent, and from the 
top of this we had a remarkably wild view, with precipi- 
tous rocks before and behind us. Then, after descending, 
we encamped behind a small bare rock in the Wady 
Enasp. 

The scenery indeed in this part of the desert is gene- 
rally of most striking character. There were desolate 
hills, mountains, shapeless high rocks, steep ravines, sundry 
valleys and plains, but scarce even a cactus plant or blade 
of grass, and no water. 

On the 19th we examined the tombs of some Arabs 
upon a mount, and we here found some tolerable water, 
for the first time since quitting Cairo. 

On the 20th we took a different road upon our dro- 
medaries from that which the camels followed, and 
climbed the mountain of Screbetilchadin, which is con- 
sidered to be holy. There were here three or four re- 
mains of edifices more like tombs than temples, which they 
are said to have been ; and after slightly inspecting them, 
we descended from the mount and rejoined the camels. 

We next passed an extensive ancient burial ground, 



MOUNT SIXAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 



225 



and near this we found two girls guarding goats. They had 
hid themselves on seeing us, and on our nearer approach 
they fled, upon which two or three of our Arabs pursued 
and caught them, and one of them turned out to be a 
girl who was engaged to our superintending sheykh, and 
for whom he was aiming to get ten camels, for which her 
father had promised her. The good Mussulman had two 
wives already at Cairo, but he told us it was not his in- 
tention to have more than three. We did not see the 
damsel's face ; and it may be here remarked that the girls 
of the desert, like those of the woods and mountains, are 
extremely chaste. They are generally armed in the 
desert with concealed pistols, but these girls had none, 
and our sheykh informed us they were safe here without 
them. 

We had been a little delayed by our intercourse with 
these damsels, so that when we arrived at the next place 
of encampment, which was in Wady Burgh, we found our 
tents pitched and our homely meal quite ready. 

The greater part of the twenty-first of the month we 
were occupied in threading defiles between hills and 
mountains, the most interesting of any we had yet seen. 
Passing among the peaks near the highest point, we found 
another burial ground, and on withdrawing from one of 
the defiles we had an extensive view, and now distinctly 
saw the two round tops of distant mountains, which were 
pointed out to us as Mount Sinai and Mount St. Kathe- 
rine, after which we encamped in a wady in view of these 
mountains. 

In such a country as we were passing over, it will seem 
strange to report that one of our Arabs to-day shot a 
hare. 

On the 22nd we again separated from the camels, and 
after passing an interesting wady, somewhat elevated, we 

Q 



226 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AKD SYRIA. 



crossed a plain with more broom growing than we usually 
found, and the hills on our left hand seemed to be chiefly 
formed by ridges of black granite. 

We next passed with great difficulty through a deep 
ravine amidst overhanging mountains. At length we 
entered upon the plain or wady supposed to be that upon 
which the Israelites encamped for a time after passing the 
sea. We were here in full view of the mountain of Sinai, 
and we arrived at the Convent of St. Katherine at the foot 
of Jebel Mhsa a little before sunset. 

What a tower for security has the convent in this holy 
mountain become ! No signal was necessary to inform 
the monks who dwell therein of our arrival. Then eyes 
are too constantly kept watching from their elevated abode 
for every passer-by, and ourselves and our train were 
well known to be their friends. One day the signal of an 
enemy is given, and another day the approach of Christian 
friends is proclaimed. Against the entrance of their foes 
they are well secured, and to receive their friends they 
have contrived an entrance far safer than gates. Thus, 
upon coming beneath the walls, we were acknowledged 
by the descent of a basket from a considerable height, 
hanging by chains, and adapted to carry two at a time ; 
and, as we severally sat down in this, we were by 
machinery raised to the height of about eighty feet above 
the ground, where we were received by the prior and a 
portion of his aids in the religious services of the convent, 
while our camels were left in charge of the Arabs who 
had accompanied us. 

On the day after our arrival here, we inspected what 
was to be seen within the convent. The chapel, which 
was remarkable, had been lately repaired and newly 
painted by the French ; and in the tombs beneath it we 
were shown what were said to be St. Katherine's bones, 



MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THEHE. 227 



and two baskets filled with human relics, which were 
those of the monks who had died in the convent. The 
rooms which were apart from the chapel were not very 
remarkable, but that in which I slept had on the shelves, 
Bibles, New Testaments and Psalters in several tongues, 
none of which had the appearance of ever having been 
opened. There were also other books in the library, but 
in the Greek language only. 

We were next lowered down to a garden upon one side 
of the convent, by the same means that we had been raised; 
and here we found a walled plantation with the ordinary 
vegetables, cypress, fig and pomegranate-trees, and we 
observed that there were here several springs. 

There was a very droll character at the convent while 
we were there, whom I would not omit to mention. 
The monks informed us that he had been consigned to 
their care by his relatives, on account of the disordered 
state of mind which he suffered, which had induced him 
to chase every woman that he met, in search, he declared, 
of his mother, whom he had been told had died, but 
which he did not seem to believe or comprehend. He 
had bare feet, and was employed in pumping water, and 
performing other little services during the day, but was 
confined at night. But while free, he had several little 
stories to tell, in which he seemed to be encouraged by 
the monks. One of them gave an account of a visit 
which he declared he had made to the planet Saturn, in 
which he said he had seen 20,000,000 inhabitants. 

We, however, experienced some little inconvenience 
from the poor man's unhappy condition, the chief of 
which was the seizure of a portion of a dinner that had 
been provided for us and put on the table ; for, while we 
were seated and partaking of soup with a roast fowl before 
us, which was waiting to be cut up, the fellow entered, 

Q 2 



228 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



stuck a fork into the bird, and ran off with it ; and, I de- 
clare, I never saw a countenance so especially droll as that 
which one of our party exhibited at the robbery. But 
after a minute, we all rose and gave chase to the robber 
round a corridor in front of the rooms, and having easily 
captured him, recovered the principal dish for our dinner. 

On the 24th, we descended from the convent at about 
nine in the morning to ascend Jebel Musa, by tradition 
and common opinion the mountain upon which the law 
was given. We passed several fountains as we ascended, 
after which we came to a level expanse, in the middle of 
which stands a tall cypress-tree enclosed within a low 
stone wall, and from this we gathered some seeds. 
Here also is a spring by the side of a rock, and a little 
ancient chapel, rather elevated, which covers a grotto in 
which Elias is said to have lived. We next came to a 
place supposed to be the spot where Moses held up his 
hand during the battle in which Joshua overcame Amalek. 
Finally we attained the top of the mountain, where, by 
the side of a great rock, is pointed out the very spot 
where it is said the law was given. Near this is a 
building which is called the chapel of Moses, and a small 
mosque. 

From J ebel Musa we directed our steps, without much f 
descending, to the remarkable quarter of the heights 
called the Horeb. This overlooks the wady which some 
believe to have been that where the Israelites were en- 
camped during the forty days that Moses remained at the 
summit of the mountain. On our road we passed the 
remains of several chapels, and after threading one or two 
defiles we descended to the Convent of St. Katherine. 

On the following day we left the convent on foot, at 
an early hour, and walked round the Horeb. Here was 
pointed out to us a large granite rock which seemed to 



MOUNT SINAI AND THE JOURNEY THERE. 229 

have fallen from the mountain, and which is supposed to 
be that from which Moses caused the water to flow. It 
had several holes in its side, a little resembling human 
mouths, and there was at least every appearance of a 
stream of water having been long running from one of 
these in particular. 

We came next to an orchard, and some rather large, 
neglected gardens. Plum-trees were here in full blossom, 
and there were also poplars and cypresses. Among these 
there was a well of Tvater, and several springs which our 
guide informed us, and we did not demand his authority, 
were not in existence in the time of Moses. There was 
also here an uninhabited convent, which was closed. 

We next ascended Mount St. Katherine, upon which 
the body of St. Katherine is said to have been left by the 
angels. We met with several springs on our way up, 
and on the summit we found a small chapel. From this 
elevation we had a gratifying view of Mount Sinai, of the 
country far beyond towards the north, of the granite 
wilderness around, of the broad Eed Sea towards the 
south, the Gulf of Suez towards the west, and the Gulf of 
Akabah towards the east. We could see the mountains 
also on the opposite side of the two gulfs, and over lands, 
where the view was not interrupted by mountains, to an 
immense distance, especially towards the north-east. 

On Sunday the 26th, which was the last day of our 
stay at the convent, the monks, before we retired to our 
sleeping apartments, handed us each a silver ring, such 
as is usually given or sold to pilgrims, and for which they 
charged us each nine piastres. 



230 



4 



CHAPTEE XXVIII. 

JOURNEY FROM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 

A Sandy Plain — High Land — Pleasantry of the Arabs — More Vegetation — 
Birds — Remarkable Ruins — Bedouins with their Flocks and Herds— First 
Settled Inhabitants of the Holy Land— Sheykh of Daccarheer. 

On the 27th of the month we descended from the con- 
vent about the middle of the day, but we marched only 
four miles, on account of a notice from our guides that the 
arrangements for the journey before us were not fully 
made, and we encamped for the night in Wady Attafiy. 

On the morning of the 28th we left the wilderness 
proper and the mountains of Sinai, and after a march of 
nine hours encamped in Wady Granet. The comet which 
we had for some days seen in its full splendour was still 
faintly visible. 

On the 29th we passed over a wide sandy plain, with 
views of mountains on all sides, including those of Sinai. 
We marched nine and a half hours this day, and in the 
evening encamped in the Wady Backney, close to some 
mountains, apparently about nine or ten thousand feet 
high. The next clay we passed over a desolate space, 
which might indeed be called a howling wilderness. If 
4 darkness ' was ever ' visible,' silence was audible over 
this hideous desolation. 

The day after this we ascended to the summit of some 
high lands with difficulty in about two hours. The views 



JOURNEY FROM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 231 



were uninteresting during the greater part of the ascent, 
but we had a noble prospect of Mount Sinai and the 
country around from the highest point which we at- 
tained. 

After two hours' further march we came to a pool of 
fresh water, of which we took a plentiful supply, and in 
the evening we arrived at Wady Babarree, and encamped 
under the shelter of some bushes, where we had a sprinkle 
of rain, with the wind blowing a gale from the south, but 
which changed late in the evening to the north. 

The next day we left the encampment at seven o'clock 
in the morning, and we had marched but a short distance, 
before the Arabs in front of us, without stopping, gave 
us a signal that there was some furious beast on our path. 
What they saw, indeed, was plainly enough a fallen and 
decayed tree. But one of our party, who was riding by 
my side, leaped from his camel with his rifle, to prepare 
for defence on foot, but a laugh from the Arabs soon 
made it quite as clear to our companion as it had been 
to the rest of the party, that the notice was only a piece 
of desert pleasantry. 

On the 2nd of April, about noon, we passed a station, 
at which our guide had informed us we should very pro- 
bably be obliged to give up our camels and to take those 
of the sheykh upon whose territory we were now treading, 
and an hour later we were approached by two Arabs on 
camels at full gallop, and their demand being to ex- 
change our camels for an equal number of theirs, they 
were easily answered by our refusal ; when an angry dis- 
cussion arose, but it was plain that the manner in which 
it was perceived we were armed settled the matter, for 
we passed on without any attempt being made to change 
our beasts by violence, which we expected we might 
have had to resist. 



232 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Some time after passing these fellows, we halted for 
the repose we usually took during our day's march, 
and it happened, that when all but one of our 1 party and 
his attendants had remounted and were some paces on 
our way, we had to turn back to know the cause of an 
uproar that seemed to have occurred among those re- 
maining, when we found Mr. Wood laying his stick 
about the shoulders of some of the fellows who had 
neglected their duty in making the preparations for 
departure : but a fair cudgelling seemed to bring the 
parties to their senses, and we were all presently able 
to continue our journey. 

Before pitching our tents this evening we passed over 
an extensive plain, and the night which followed was 
colder than usual. 

The next day being Sunday, we had some intention of 
making twenty-four hours' repose, but a little reflection 
concerning the country we were in induced us to con- 
tinue our journey, and in the evening we pitched our 
tents at the usual hour at which we stopped, and made 
arrangements for keeping the camels as near to us as 
possible, lest any of them should be stolen during the 
night. In spite of this, however — for it was not possible 
to keep them very near or even together, on account of 
the scarcity of the cactus, upon which they still chiefly 
fed — we found in the morning that several of them had 
been exchanged for inferior beasts. That camels were 
left for those taken, was. however, a tolerable sign that 
the rogues who had made the exchange were not strong 
enough to risk leaving us in a condition to be obliged to 
pursue them for want of beasts enough to cany us to 
Jerusalem, which would have been attended with much 
more inconvenience to us than the exchange : and as to our 
guide and the drivers, they were too familiar with similar 



JOURNEY FROM MOUNT SIXAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 233 



treatment from the Bedouins of this district to make 
much fuss about the matter ; so that, after congratulating 
ourselves that it was no worse, we continued our journey. 

In the afternoon we encamped in Wady Shurif. The 
night which followed was cold, and the comet was still 
faintly visible. 

On the 5th of the month we left Wady Shurif rather 
early, with the thermometer at 43° Fahrenheit, with 
wind, which we felt the more on account of the two 
or three first days after Ave left Sinai having been 
extremely warm. We now found much more vegetation 
than we had seen before, and passed some ploughed 
land and a field of growing barley, without seeing any 
inhabitants. As we were all fatigued, we encamped 
here without any fear of our camels feasting on the 
barley, as these eccentric beasts prefer the coarsest herbs 
before the most precious vegetable food which is culti- 
vated. There were live quails and pigeons here, which 
were the first birds we had seen since leaving Egypt. 

The next morning we shot a brace of quails, but 
which our consciences hardly excused, for we found our- 
selves among birds which chirped so delightfully while 
we were at breakfast, that it seemed a shame to kill 
them ; and when we resumed our journey we felt as men 
feel who, after a tedious voyage, step upon some agreeable 
shore, or as relieved prisoners of war, after long con- 
finement, may feel on then first tour among the busy 
tribes of men in their own land. The awful silence of 
the desert was broken. The cheerful notes of winged 
tribes greeted our approach to the dwellings of men, 
and to the land so long sought by him who brought the 
children of Israel out of bondage, and whose steps 
before his first approach to cultivated land we had traced 
from Egypt and Mount Sinai. 



2U 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AKD SYE1A. 



The next day. an hour after we commenced our jour- 
ney, we came to many ruins of walls, some of which 
were at a considerable elevation. In another hour we 
passed other remarkable rums, and towards night we 
again crossed a desolate tract of country. 

On the 5th of the month we examined some ruins 
which seemed to cover about 200 acres of land, and 
amongst these were several wells. The tracts of fertile 
soil after this were large, though still uncultivated : and 
partridges of a sandy colour were plentiful, all making 
a noise like that of our barn-door fowls. 

We stopped this morning and took our luncheon near 
some remarkable ruins, where there were several fragments 
of broken columns, and other remains of temples, in ex- 
amining which we spent some time. 

About two hours before sunset upon the same day 
we crossed a dry. pebbly water-course, of about a 
hundred yards in breadth, which forms the proper boun- 
dary between the desert, with its wild inhabitants, and 
Palestine, or the Holy Land. But. as in eveiy country 
on either side of any line of demarcation, except that 
which is upon high mountains, the shades of character 
here blend nicely, or break gradually mile by mile, so 
that the differences in language and civil institutions are 
not for some time perceptible. Xevertheless, we might 
now say that we were in the Holy Land, where I shall 
notice those everlasting monuments which were the first 
objects we passed by. and which recalled the transac- 
tions of the people whose history we trace with so much 
interest — the wells of Beersheba, They were, indeed, 
the first distinct indications of the land having been once 
inhabited which we examined in Palestine, the fitting 
country of the Author of the religion which is now so 
firmly established throughout the civilised world, as to 



JOURNEY FROM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 235 



give hopes of the final union of all mankind within the 
same temples of religious worship. 

After an hour or two spent in the examination of these 
wells and the ground around them, which was covered 
with the remains of stone houses thoroughly scattered, 
and in watering our camels and partaking of the same 
refreshing beverage ourselves, we made a march of seve- 
ral hours before encamping, during which we felt the 
true impression of our entry into the country of the patri- 
archs — the land of promise. 

Upon the ground upon which we had before passed, we 
had not seen anything growing except the last efforts of 
nature to preserve vegetation in a land once ploughed and 
rich in pasture, as must be concluded from the remains of 
the towns and villages in which its population dwelt ; but 
now we advanced through ravines and over hills, in every 
direction tinged with a green hue, which became darker 
and darker as we proceeded ; and before mid-clay, while 
we were in the midst of a slightly undulated plain, we 
were gratified with a scene so much in unison with our 
thoughts, that we seemed transported back to the days of 
the patriarchs and their contemporary shepherds. 

A numerous tribe of the pastoral Bedouins were in 
motion with their flocks and their herds. They were 
divided into parties, which stretched out on the right hand 
and on the left as far as the eye could reach, no one party 
seeming to approach within perhaps a mile of the other. 
Their movement was towards the south, but we were 
only capable of well distinguishing one party, which 
consisted of camels and asses driven by men, and laden 
with the furniture of the camp, besides carrying some 
women and children ; while their flocks of sheep and 
goats were chiefly conducted by women, and were grazing 
as they advanced over the ground. 



236 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYKIA. 



A girl carrying a wand and driving two or three 
hundred goats, and of course veiled, came near our path. 
We wished to communicate with her, and she stood for 
some time motionless, as if wrapped in astonishment at 
our appearance. We made signs of amity, and or- 
dered one of our servants with one of the camel-drivers 
to approach her, but she fled from them with the swift- 
ness of a sylph coarsely pursued, which rendered their 
efforts unavailing ; and we were left in doubt whether 
she was influenced by fear, by a sense of propriety or 
by religious fanaticism, which teaches the Mussulmans of 
her age and class especially to avoid the contamination 
which they suppose to attend any species of intercourse 
with Christians, and she might easily believe that the 
principal persons of our party were of the more ancient 
faith. 

As we proceeded we saw two other tribes or detach- 
ments of tribes encamped upon the slopes of the hills on 
either side of us, but we did not approach near enough 
to either of them to exchange intelligible signs. 

The same evening we saw the first considerable trees 
that we met with, save on Mount Sinai, since leaving 
Egypt. They spotted the light green of the hills with 
their deeper hue, which made the way the more agree- 
able; and before the day closed we arrived before 
Daccarheer, the border village of Palestine. 

This village, as the traveller approaches from the desert 
from which side it can alone be properly seen, has the ap- 
pearance of an Egyptian settlement of some importance, 
and, as we were informed by our guide, is yet more difficult 
to enter and remain in safety. 

It had been our intention to reach Hebron if possible 
the day that we passed Daccarheer, but we no sooner 
halted before the town than we found that a quarantine 



JOUEXEY FROM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 237 

had lately been established there, which induced us to 
give up, for the present, seeing that important place in 
our tour. 

A sheykh and about a dozen or fourteen men, which 
was probably nearly the whole of the male adult popula- 
tion of this place, approached us as w T e began to discharge 
our beasts upon a plot of ground under the shelter of some 
trees within pistol-shot of the village. We felt much 
interest in meeting them, as the first settled inhabitants 
of the Holy Land which we saw, but we had soon reason 
to be not much pleased with our reception. They were 
fine-looking men, with skins approaching much nearer to 
white than to the bright deep bronze of the Egyptians, 
while their dresses were spare, and more like those of the 
Bedouin Arabs than any other we had seen. The sheykh, 
however, formed some exception. He was well-dressed, 
but was darker in feature than the rest, with long- curling 
black locks, and we agreed in thinking him the most 
savage-looking of all the sheykhs we had met with, and 
we soon found that his looks were not far from expressing 
the truth. 

We now heard from this famous official that a quaran- 
tine had lately been established at the gates of J erusalem, to 
prevent the entrance of any foreign cattle, and that it was 
necessary to change our beasts for those of the country 
into which we had entered : and as soon as he had s:iven 
us this information, he begged us to seat ourselves upon 
the ground and repose ; adding, that although he had no 
camels at present at hand, he had no doubt of being able 
to put us again upon our journey at an early hour on 
the following day, which was the first indication we 
received of there being any doubt of our proceeding as 
soon as we had for a short time reposed. Thus we 
immediately informed our guide that it was our intention 



238 TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 

to proceed without delay, and that if we could not get 
any other camels within an hour, we would take our 
own and continue our journey ; but he showed evident 
unwillingness to communicate this determination to the 
sheykh of Daccarheer, which, as he was present and 
might easily comprehend what we meant by our manner 
of proclaiming our intentions, was hardly necessary, and 
he now began to exhibit symptoms of a disposition which 
his features had not belied, and we found from our drago- 
mans that the language which he made use of in his 
positive denial of his having any camels at hand was such 
as to prevent our adding one word to what we last said, 
without a compromise of our national character of deter- 
mination to oppose the imposition practised by these 
barbarians upon travellers in general ; and we now com- 
municated to the scoundrel our firm determination that, 
if we were not immediately supplied with camels, we 
would proceed with those we had brought so far, and 
leave them at the gate of the city. 

The sheykh of Daccarheer, upon hearing this resolution, 
grew a shade darker and darker with rage, and as we 
simultaneously started upon our feet, he declared that the 
camels that had brought us thus far should not proceed a 
step further. At this our excitement was not less than 
his own, and placing our hands upon our arms we in- 
formed him of our intention to take our camels by force, 
if opposed, and proceed in the face of every opposition 
offered ; and this threat — we had never yet found a similar 
determination otherwise — had its full effect. The fellow 
grew temperate, and pretended that he would at least 
endeavour to find his camels ; which, as they were all 
the time at hand, was a very easy matter, so that as soon 
as they were brought out of the town we began to bar- 
gain for the price ; and for this short journey, which 



JOURNEY FEOM MOUNT SINAI TOWARDS JERUSALEM. 239 



could scarcely be less than completed during the follow- 
ing clay, the fellow demanded fifty piastres for each camel, 
which, as we found it was double the ordinary price, and 
that he insisted upon being paid every farthing before 
we departed, we refused to agree to this, declaring our 
willingness at the same time to pay thirty piastres, and 
the remainder of his demand at Jerusalem, if it should be 
found it was not so unreasonable as we had supposed. 
This arrangement was, however, refused, and it was not 
until we had run the risk of a skirmish by declaring 
again that we would take our own camels by force if he 
did not immediately furnish us with others at the rate we 
knew to be just, when, seeing evident signs of our deter- 
mination to put our threats into execution, he consented 
to provide the camels which were necessary at the price 
we offered. Thus they came at last, but so slowly that 
it was about two hours after our arrival here that we 
were again on our direct way to Jerusalem. 

We were indeed now so wretchedly mounted that we 
made but slow progress, and in the evening we had the 
novelty of encamping for the first time on ground quite 
damp from rain that had lately fallen. 



240 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 

Fruitful Country — First View of the Holy City — Gate of Bethlehem — 
Encamp in the Gardens of the Lazaretto — Removal to our Consul's Garden. 

On the morning after we had made the exchange of 
camels, we raised our tents and loaded our camels for the 
last time before our entry into the city so long the steady 
object and main end of our journey. The hills about us, 
as we now proceeded, were precipitous and stony. In 
some places the larger stones and masses of rock presented 
to us decay more remarkable than anything in the geo- 
logical world that any of us had at any time before seen. 

The ground, in some places, was productive of wild 
oats, and patches of coarse grass ; but there was plain 
evidence of there having been fair cultivation at a remote 
period, and even of the existence of excess of popu- 
lation, for there were many remains of terraces formed 
by stony walls, all of which must have been cultivated, 
though from the greater part of them the soil had now 
been washed away, or dried up and blown into the valleys, 
leaving only a portion of the walls to tell the tale of the 
wants and the industry of the former inhabitants. 

After two hours' march among these once productive, 
but now sterile hills, the view opened before us of the pro- 
duce of the best efforts of art to the purposes of agriculture 
that we had seen since we left the fertile banks of the 
Nile. But how different its application, how different its 



ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 



241 



effects ! There the sacred river leaves to man little more 
than the scattering of the seed, and gathering the abund- 
ance of the earth's returns, while the hardy sons of 
the mountains of Judsea terrace their hills with great 
labour, and renew the soil which the rains wash away, 
or the sun dries up and the winds scatter. The sides of 
the hills and terraces here, were now undergoing the 
passage of the plough amidst groves of aged and most 
luxurious vines ; and in all our inquiries concerning the 
fertility of the soil, we received such answers as to con- 
firm us in what I believe is the general persuasion, that 
this is the very spot where the spies of the great legislator 
and leader of the Israelites gathered the grapes, the 
pomegranates, and the figs which they brought to their 
paralysed countrymen.* 

We marched for two hours through this fruitful country 
along stony lanes with low stone walls on either hand, 
after which there again began to appear less vegetation ; 
and what we had believed to be but the gate of the land 
flowing with milk and honey, now seemed to us to be 
little more than a wide oasis in the stony wastes of Judgea. 

We next left the Hebron road on our right hand, and 
proceeding northwards along the sides of the sterile hills, 
we discovered nothing like a country that could ever 
have yielded to the toils of the agriculturist, until there 
opened upon us the view of one of the most picturesque 
scenes in Palestine. The slope of a fertile hill was on 
the left hand, and the top of the convent and some of the 
superior buildings of Bethlehem above a ridge on the 
right, while a village of which we had a nearer view 
appeared like a fort placed amidst a plantation of olives ; 
and we had not marched for another hour, before one of our 
dragomans galloped forward, and beholding the holy city, 

* See Numbers xiii. 23. 
R 



242 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



cried out, ' Jerusalem ! ' upon which we all put our camels 
to the trot, aud we did not stop until the city so long the 
grand object of our interest was fully in our view. 

After stopping our camels, we remained every one 
occupied with his own reflections, as if we had at this 
moment attained the whole object of our toils. Even 
our camel-drivers, not one of whom had ever entered 
the city, seemed to us at first to partake of our enthu- 
siasm. We presently, however, found their feelings to 
be merely excited by their terror of quarantine, which 
we had heard on our journey was now very rigid at 
Jerusalem, and it was only by threats, and the fear 
they had of our arms, that any of them could be induced 
to pass on towards the holy city ; and we afterwards found 
that our servants, to obtain their consent to leave Dac- 
carheer, had assured them that the much-abused regula- 
tion did not now prevail at Jerusalem, or that if they 
should find it otherwise when we were near the city, 
they would be given their liberty. 

The spot of ground upon which we now stood com- 
mands not only a view of the holy city surrounded with 
high and regular walls, but of the wide plain which inter- 
venes, partly cultivated, but for the most part sterile or 
incult, and the partially fertile hills which overlook the 
city and its immediate vicinity. 

Upon the right hand, looking from this point, the Mount 
of Olives is a prominent object, apparently more fertile 
and better cultivated than any other eminence within 
view, and still sprinkled with the trees from which it 
takes its name. On the summit stands the Church of the 
Assumption, built here in the belief that this was the very 
spot where our Saviour, after his resurrection, appeared 
for the last time, and from which he ascended into 
heaven ; while, on the left hand, at some distance from 



ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 243 

Jerusalem, is seen Mount Bamah, crowned with a mosque 
which covers the tomb of the prophet Samuel. 

We found the road for the remainder of our journey 
less stony and difficult than that over which we had gene- 
rally travelled since we left the great desert ; and before 
the sun fell beneath the high lands of Eamah we reached 
the brink of the valley of Gihon, which separates Mount 
Zion from the open country on this side of Jerusalem, 
and, uniting with the valley of Jehoshaphat, divides the 
whole western bounds of the city from the Mount of 
Olives, and from the contiguous hills which stretch south- 
ward on that side the city. 

Here we made another halt, to view the exterior of 
Jerusalem from this short distance, undisturbed ; and 
setting historical associations apart, we all agreed that 
we had never seen a more imposing view in any part of 
the world. The walls of the modern city are of stone, 
regular, and covered with battlements or breastwork, 
with towers at equal distances from one another, and 
beyond the walls are seen the extremity of Mount Zion, 
which forms the opposite bank of the valley, and is crowned 
by a mosque covering the tomb of King David. 

After advancing a little northward we descended into 
the valley, and upon crossing a bridge which passes over 
the dry course of the brook Gihon, we ascended on the 
opposite side by a path which brought us immediately to 
the gate of Bethlehem, situated at the south-west boun- 
dary of the city. 

We were stopped at the gate by the officers of the 
quarantine, who, as the sun was near setting, politely 
promised us that the gates should be kept open until 
the formalities had been accomplished for our recep- 
tion. These, indeed, were soon effected, and an officer 
arrived with directions from the authorities to permit 

n 2 



244 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



us to enter the gates, to conduct us to the lazaretto, 
and suffer us to encamp in the gardens thereto attached ; 
and this arrangement was agreeable to us, since our 
restriction against leaving these gardens was to endure 
but three days. 

We now entered the gate of Bethlehem with our string 
of camels, which were driven to a place assigned to 
them, some distance from that occupied by ourselves, and 
turning to the left hand we passed by heaps of rubbish 
strewed over the ground, at this time called the gardens 
of Bethsheba ; after marching by a wall which forms a 
projection without the city, we came to a patch of unen- 
closed ground, about an acre in extent, in the entry of 
which stood the lazar-house and its gardens, of which 
it is necessary to say a few words. 

This part of even modern Jerusalem seems to have 
long gone to decay, and the only dwellings contiguous to 
the place are a few hovels, the inhabitants of which 
have added the accumulated filth of their sorry abodes 
to that which seems to have been gathered from the en- 
campment of soldiers. Thus the whole surface of the 
ground is strewed with bones, camels' manure, dead dogs, 
and every foul thing that ever polluted the vicinity of 
human dwellings. But as to the lazar-house, it was a 
building with one room about thirty feet by twenty, with 
a door, but no window. Thus to this palace and pleasure 
ground of the spirit of pollution were we consigned by 
the Jerusalem officers of health, and we pitched our tents 
in the garden. But we had an advocate in the firm and 
active representative of our government in Jerusalem, 
who called upon us early the next morning, and no sooner 
saw our condition than he took such measures as produced 
an immediate order from the Pasha for our release from 



ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 



245 



this garden and our consignment to the care of our 
consul. 

The consul was now greatly at a loss to decide where 
to put us, that we might at least keep up the ap- 
pearance of being in quarantine. At length, however, he 
caused us to pitch our tents in a field attached to his 
house, at some distance from the quarter of the town 
where we had passed the first night, and far enough 
from the filthy garden of the lazaretto, which infected the 
whole atmosphere about its immediate neighbourhood. 
There we might consider ourselves still in quarantine, 
and as within our tents until the expiration of three days, 
as soon after which as possible it was our intention to 
enter into one of the convents, all of which were, how- 
ever, at this time quite crowded with pilgrims from 
Greece and Turkey, on their way to the river Jordan, in 
which numbers come annually to bathe. 



246 



CHAPTEB XXX. 
Jerusalem — continued. 

Different kinds of Visitors at Jerusalem — First Visit to the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre — Unaffected Devotions of the Pilgrims — Principal Chapels 
■ — Examination of some opinions prevalent. 

The day after we had pitched our tents in the consul's 
field, which was the ninth of April, the weather was 
cold, with rain, wind and hail, and my thermometer was 
at 45° and 48° Fahrenheit. But the following day was 
much finer, and upon our finding that the order that had 
been given for strangers to confine themselves to their 
tents for three days after their arrival was nothing more 
than for the purpose of exacting fees, and not necessary to 
regard, we commenced our examination of the objects of 
interest within the walls of the holy city. 

There are two distinct kinds of travellers that visit 
Jerusalem at this season, and if we regard the two ex- 
tremes in opinions which prevail among them, we shall 
find the one deeply imbued with superstitious veneration 
for every tradition, and ready to put faith in every 
monkish legend which the fancied necessity of assigning 
an exact locality to every event has produced, and the 
other deeming all knowledge as to the express localities 
of former events unimportant, and not to be regarded. 
But for the short notice of the holy, or remarkable places 
in Jerusalem, the more leading of which will alone be 
here referred to, I would rather take for granted that 



JERUSALEM. 



247 



the alleged site is also that upon which the events 
occurred, than enter upon any vain conjectures of my 
own, or refer to the opinions of others, so long as the 
reports of the guides only regard the transactions 
which we know to have taken place either in Jerusalem 
or its vicinity. Moreover, I must observe, that if I 
now often speak in the first person singular, this is not 
intended to indicate that I was alone, within or without 
the walls of Jerusalem, but that I would not at any time 
make my own thoughts and impressions appear to be 
exactly in accord with the opinions of my fellow-travellers, 
from whom I did not separate, until their further pursuits 
induced them to renew their travels, which was some 
time before my objects in the holy city were attained. 

After procuring a sufficient guide, we were first 
drawn by the universal impulse which attracts every 
pilgrim or tourist that reaches Jerusalem, towards the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. To reach this, we de- 
scended through narrow streets with windowless dwell- 
ings to the chief business street of the town. But we had 
scarce entered this, before we turned into a passage which 
led directly to the court before the church of the holy 
place. 

The front of the church only is open to the court, of 
which it forms one side, the open space being about thirty 
yards square. 

We found this crowded with petty traffickers in clothes, 
from a pair of old shoes to a rich burnouze, with abun- 
dance of wares and provisions, and fruits of many kinds, 
from dried apricots to fresh pomegranates. It reminded 
me of the traffickers who defiled the temple in the days of 
our Saviour. 

At the door of the church, which is in a corner of the 
square, there were several pilgrims kneeling, apparently 



248 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



deeming themselves unworthy to enter ; and, after we had 
passed the threshold, we observed in the aisle or passage 
leading to the open space beneath the dome, several men 
in the same attitude, engaged also in prayer. Turning 
from this upon the left hand, we passed beneath some of 
the columns that support the dome, under the centre of 
which is a little roofed chapel or grotto, in which it is 
said was placed the very sarcophagus in which the body 
of the Saviour of mankind was deposited, and remained 
from the time of his crucifixion to his resurrection. The 
receptacle of this precious deposit for that space of time 
consists of two departments, formed of stone, and of which 
the workmanship is chaste and in unison with that of 
the church, while its decorations within form a minature 
representation of the gaudy chapels appropriated to the 
mysterious celebration of the masses of the Latins, the 
Greeks, and the Armenians. 

We now felt much interest in observing the unaffected 
devotions of a pious pilgrim, who, from his dress, ap- 
peared to be a European, By the sides of the entrance to 
the sacred receptacle there were benches for the pilgrims 
to repose, before fully entering, and we observed this 
devout man rise from his knees and seat himself upon 
one of these. He wore no shoes, and his knees were as 
bare as his feet, no doubt from his frequent attitude of 
devotion since quitting his native land. We seated our- 
selves on the opposite bench, rather apprehensive that we 
might disturb the pilgrim, but he did not seem to notice 
us, and we continued seated without any further fear of 
interrupting his devotions. He placed his staff, which 
had doubtless been his constant aid throughout his 
journey, between his knees, and let his head fall upon his 
hands, which supported it, and in this position he remained, 
until we observed the tears which he shed, to drop 



JERUSALEM. 



249 



profusely upon the marble pavement beneath his feet. 
After some minutes had elapsed, he wiped his eyes with 
the long flowing hair, which fell upon his shoulders ; and 
when we regarded the ease of mind which seemed to 
follow this, we could not doubt that he believed that his 
prayer had been heard above, and his petition granted ; 
whether it were the prayer for some future blessing, or, 
what is perhaps more likely, forgiveness of some sin, of 
which the gloomy image had rested upon his soul. 

After this the pious man rose from his seat, aod stand- 
ing erect with his staff in his right hand, he fixed his eyes 
upon the entrance of the grotto, then with a slow but firm 
step advanced ; a monk now beckoning him to approach 
the sepulchre, he came forward, and after throwing him- 
self again upon his knees, he placed his hands upon the 
slab of a sarcophagus that was before him, and bending 
his head, kissed it again and again. 

As we had advanced with the pilgrim, we still re- 
mained a short time in the grotto, to witness any further 
act he might perform, but he retired from this without 
making any additional demonstration of devotion. Yet 
some time after this we found him again upon his knees 
near the entrance of the church. His staff was now upon 
the ground by his side, and he had thrown back his hair, 
which had before nearly covered his face, and crossed his 
arms upon his breast, and I could scarcely believe I saw 
the same person whom I had taken for an old man, for 
he did not now appear to be past the middle age. His 
eyes, that had been before cast down, now look upwards. 
It was clearly the image of hope, triumphant over despair. 
It seemed as if a voice from the .Intercessor for man — 
from Him who was nailed for our advantage to the bitter 
cross — had repeated the words of pardon He once uttered 



250 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



on earth : — ' Thy sins be forgiven thee ; go, and sin no 
more.' 

We next visited the principal chapel in the building, 
which is immediately opposite the grotto. This important 
part of the edifice has belonged at different times to the 
Latin Church and to the Greek Church, and given rise to 
feuds between those bodies even within the building, 
which has caused the Turkish authorities to guard against 
the recurrence of these disgraceful contentions by placing 
fifty soldiers in the body of the church, upon every day de- 
voted to any special occasion of worship. But it may be 
here said, that it cannot be doubted that the Emperor of 
Eussia, who is at the head of the Greek Church, in his own 
country at least, and Napoleon, who, as Sovereign of France, 
ought to be considered the head of the Latin Church, 
would be glad to abolish these differences and the gross 
superstitions which prevail among the numerous unin- 
structed classes of their subjects. This principal chapel 
is only remarkable on account of its being the largest 
and best decorated, and is now possessed by the Greek 
Church. 

We next entered the Latin Chapel. The mass was 
here just over ; but a monk who stood on the right be- 
tween the door and the altar, by some strange manner in 
which he seemed to be occupied, engaged our curiosity. 
We approached the spot where he stood ; and as he per- 
formed his strange offices, the guide informed us that, 
encased, shut up and wholly excluded from view, was 
here preserved a holy relic, the virtues of which the monk 
stood there to obtain, and impart to all who came. There 
was an aperture in the wall of the church, about the size 
of a pigeon-hole, with a little door upon hinges, and the 
priest held a stick of five or six feet in length in his hand, 
which ever and anon he thrust through this aperture, till 



JERUSALEM. 



251 



it touched the holy relic within, and then withdrawing it 
he turned the end, which was armed with a knob, that had 
received all the virtues of the relic, to those who attended, 
who touched it with their fingers, which they afterwards 
pressed to their Hps. Some, indeed, we saw seize the 
stick with both hands, and hold it until it was withdrawn 
by the monk ; and this relic, we were informed, was the 
stone from Mount Calvary which had been placed by 
Joseph of Arimathsea before the sepulchre in which had 
lain the body of the Saviour after his crucifixion. 

From this we mounted a stone staircase, which brought 
us to a gallery where there were two chapels parallel to 
each other, and divided only by the buttresses which sup- 
ported the archways, from which you might pass from 
the one to the other. Upon the same gallery, on a de- 
corated platform formed by a projection of the rock 
which supports the back of the church, stands a cross, 
upon which is extended a representation of our Saviour 
crucified, on one side of which is the figure of the Virgin, 
and on the other that of Mary Magdalene. These figures 
are painted, and very badly, upon flat boards cut in the 
human form ; and this very spot, which is scarce a 
hundred feet from the sepulchre, is shown as the Mount 
Calvary upon which the crucifixion took place. 

After this we descended to see a tomb cut in the rock, 
below the base of the church, and described as that of 
Mcodemus. 

Notwithstanding what may be said about the incor- 
rectness of the impression concerning the sites of the 
events of which the holy city was the scene, I would, in 
this instance, make a few remarks concerning those which 
it is declared lie within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
and rather in favour than against the pretensions of the 
monks, to show within this small compass the very spots 



252 TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 

upon which were transacted the most momentous events 
recorded in the history of the human race ; for, upon the 
authority of the Scriptures themselves, it is probable, or 
at least possible, that the place of the crucifixion and that 
of the sepulchre were really within a space no greater 
than that comprehended between the extremity of the 
upper chapel, which covers the declared site of the cruci- 
fixion, and the grotto which is placed immediately be- 
neath the great dome at the other extremity of the church. 
But it will be as well to consult the brief accounts which 
are severally given by the four historians of these most 
memorable events, not forgetting, at the same time, that 
this portion of modern Jerusalem does not stand upon 
ground occupied by any part of the ancient town. 

We will take the Evangelists in the order in which we 
receive their several accounts. The first two of the sacred 
historians plainly state that Joseph of Arimathaea came to 
Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, which he wrapped 
in clean linen cloth, and laid in a sepulchre hewn out of a 
rock. St. Luke says, that the body was laid by Joseph in a 
sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein was never man 
laid. So far we have nothing that indicates the distance to 
which the body of Jesus was carried ; but we may now 
regard the account of St. John, who has been more par- 
ticular in his relation of the transaction, and here we find 
that Joseph of Arimathsea, being a disciple of Jesus, 
secretly, for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he 
might take away the body, and Pilate gave him leave. 
After then stating that Nicodemus brought of myrrh and 
aloes about a hundred pounds weight, and that the body 
of Jesus was wound in linen clothes with spices, as the 
manner of the Jews is to bury, the Evangelist adds, that 
c in the place where he was crucified there is a garden, 
and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never 



JERUSALEM. 



253 



man yet laid,' and that 6 there they laid Jesus because of 
the preparation day, when it was not lawful that the body 
should remain on the cross,' 6 and the sepulchre was nigh 
at hand.' 

Now the principal observation which I have to make 
after the perusal of the distinct uncontradicted account of 
St. John that the body of Jesus was placed in a sepulchre, 
within a garden which was near the place where he was 
crucified, is merely, that if Joseph of Arimathaga came 
secretly to Pilate for fear of the Jews, it was perfectly 
natural that he should avoid the removal of the body 
to any distance, which could not fail to attract atten- 
tion, and probably cause a tumult among the people. 
Hence, the full passage, noting both the vicinity of the 
place and the reasons why the body was there laid, 
plainly shows that this was but as a temporary security 
for the body from the ferocity of the Jews. Thus it does 
not appear to me that there can be any reason shown 
why the place of the crucifixion and that of the sepulchre 
should not be within the distance comprehended between 
the two extremities of the church. 



254 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 

The Via Dolorosa — Pool of Bethesda — Reported Tomb of the Virgin — Garden 
of Gethsemane — View from the Mount — Church of the Ascension — The 
Brook of Kedron. 

The spot which our associations while at Jerusalem 
placed next in interest to the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre was the Mount of Olives, the very name of 
which recalls to our recollection some of the later and 
more important scenes of the sacred drama — the passion, 
the arrest, and last of all, the ascension. To reach this, 
after coining out of the church, we ascended the steps 
which we had before passed, but instead of retracing our 
way, we soon turned to the right, which brought us to 
some ancient columns enclosed within a wall, and which 
are said to be the remains of one of the former gates of 
the city, which, if indeed they were so, would prove that 
the city must have included the ground upon which the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands ; but that has been 
ably shown, by M. Chateaubriand in particular, to be in- 
consistent alike with tradition and such local evidence 
as the nature of the subject affords, and would nega- 
tive the supposition admitted in some previous obser- 
vations. 

From this we proceeded northwards, still descending, 
until we entered the via dolorosa, through which our 
Saviour is said to have borne his cross. But there is not 



THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



255 



a circumstance related by either of the Evangelists, as 
taking place on the eventful day that witnessed the last 
sufferings, to which tradition has not assigned a locality, 
or over which piety has not erected a chapel. Within 
the compass of the via dolorosa, which may be about 
half a mile in length from the place where you turn 
towards the south, until you reach St. Stephen's gate, 
leading directly towards the Mount of Olives, many sites 
of different events are shown upon no authority save 
the vaguest tradition. One of these, which I shall 
mention, shows the excess of folly prevailing among the 
inhabitants of the holy city, and is a shame to some 
and a matter of interest to others that tread this way. 
This is a dent shown in a stone wall that is not very 
ancient, about two feet in length and six inches in 
breadth, which the traveller is informed was made by 
the cross borne by our Saviour as He fell beneath its 
weight. 

The first site of interest that was shown us upon this 
' way of grief,' comprises some marble steps that pro- 
ject into the street upon a level with the ground, with 
a portion of a wall which now forms one side of the 
street ; and these are said to be the remains of the judg- 
ment hall of Pilate, and of the steps which conducted 
thereto. 

Then, after descending to the bottom of this way, we 
came to an extensive cistern or reservoir on the left hand, 
now dry, which is pointed out as the Pool of Bethesda. 
It occupies the space of about one-third of the length of 
the wall which seems to have enclosed the outer courts 
of the ancient temple, and is of the form of a long 
square. The name of this pool will call to the recollec- 
tion of every reader of the gospel of St. John the 
miracle performed by Jesus upon the Sabbath-day. We 



256 



TKAYELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



here stood, we were told, upon the very spot where the 
Saviour by his word healed the impotent man who could 
get no one to put him into the pool, in which the water 
was from time to time troubled by an angel, and given the 
power to heal the first invalid who afterwards stepped 
into it. ' It was here,' said our guide, 6 that Jesus 
pronounced the words, " Eise, take up thy bed and walk," 
and which led to the anger of the Jews when they saw 
the bed-carrying on the Sabbath-day.' 

From the Pool of Bethesda we passed through the 
gate of St. Stephen, and descended into the valley of 
Jehoshaphat, by the way which leads directly to the 
Mount of Olives, now full in our view. At the bottom 
of the valley you cross a rude bridge, which passes over 
the water-course of the brook of Kedron, which is 
quite dry at this season. Immediately after passing 
the bridge, we found upon the left hand a small temple, 
evidently erected by the Christians long after the fall of 
Jerusalem, and which is remarkable as the reported 
tomb of the Virgin Mary. It is an edifice little adorned 
and well in accord with our associations of mortality, 
and has in front of it a paved space, the base of which 
lies at some feet beneath the proper surface of the 
ground. 

No one being in attendance at the temple, which was 
closed, we had not the opportunity of entering, but I 
should afterwards have endeavoured to obtain admission, 
even on the most vague evidence that the ashes of the 
Virgin had reposed there, could I have felt half the 
enthusiasm of M. de Lamartine, when, hardly consistent 
with himself, he fell upon his knees before the facade of 
this building and invoked the dead, who, in a more 
philosophic frame of mind, he might perhaps have re- 
membered, are not endued with the faculty of seeing the 



THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



257 



actions or hearing the petitions of those who still inhabit 
the world to which they have bid farewell for ever. 

Turning from this tomb, at a few paces distant, also on 
the left hand, and at the very base of the mount, there is 
a patch of ground, about an acre in extent. It is en- 
closed within a wall of loose stones, and is shown as the 
spot called in Scripture the garden of Gethsemane. 
From its vicinity to the brook of Kedron, whence it 
might be watered, it may be the very spot where 6 Jesus 
oftentimes resorted with his disciples.' Here, after the 
supper which he took with the twelve on the eve of his 
sufferings, he came for the last time, and standing apart, 
prayed earnestly, with feelings which even the moment 
of suffering had no power to suppress, that if possible 
the cup of bitterness might pass from him : yet, still 
saying, ' If this cup may not pass away from me except I 
drink it, thy will be done.' 

The site of the garden of Gethsemane is still the most 
fertile spot in this vicinity. The olive-trees, some of 
which are evidently of great age, are luxuriant, and 
afford a welcome shade. 

Not many paces further out of the road upon the right 
hand is shown a narrow enclosure formed by low walls 
of stones on either side, and closed at the distance of 
thirty or forty paces from the entrance, and this is the 
spot at which it is said the false disciple betrayed our 
Saviour. We were here detained but a short time, when 
we began to ascend the mount by the way which led 
directly to the summit. 

We had found the road since we left the gate of St. 
Stephen the best we had yet seen in Palestine. As far 
as the foot of the mountain it might have permitted the 
easy passage of a wheeled vehicle, which is a luxury we 
had not yet seen in the country. The ascent of the 

S 



258 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



mount, however, is steep, and the way stony and not 
even, and would be difficult for a horse to ascend 
that had not been habituated to the rough ways of a 
mountain country. Neither is the eye compensated by 
any superabundance of vegetation ; and the mountain, 
being formed of limestone and granite, is at intervals only 
covered with a scanty soil, which in a plentiful country 
would not be worth the labour of cultivation ; yet, 
wherever the soil is secured by the more level character 
of the ground, the mount still abounds in the beautiful 
and productive tree from which it takes its name, and in 
some parts it is even made to produce both white and 
green crops. 

Upon one of the more level spaces, fronted by a rocky 
precipice, and near to the top of the mount, it is said that 
our Saviour sat when He wept over Jerusalem. The 
summit of this precipice commands the most comprehen- 
sive view of the holy city, with all its minarets and 
domes ; while the blue peaks and summits of the sterile 
mountains by which the city is surrounded on all sides 
save the east and south-east, seem to form so great an 
exception to the usual situation of the capitals of nations, 
that without the religious history of the Jews, we might 
be as much at a loss to comprehend the motives for 
the choice of a site for their capital city, which seems 
only proper for a fort, as to understand the secret of its 
growth, and the maintenance of its rank among the 
populous cities of the ancient world. 

We had from this point a view of a portion of the 
city of great interest, and less questionable in its position 
than most of the remarkable places in Jerusalem — the 
great open court and site of the temple of Solomon ; 
and it is only from the spot upon which we stood 
that the pi] grim or traveller will be gratified with as much 



THE 310UXT OF OLIVES. 



259 



as a glance over the ground where that amazing work of 
men's hands once seemed to defy alike the power of the 
elements and the more destructive hand of war. But 
where the sacred edifice, through so many centuries, from 
the time of Solomon down to the destruction of the city, 
proudly stood and conserved the ancient memorials of the 
Jewish history, from the giving of the law on Mount 
Sinai, there now stands a temple of Mahometan worship, 
the XLosque of Omar, which nor Jew nor Christian dare 
approach, even so near as the great outer court ; in ex- 
tent it is doubtless the same as when the ancient temple 
existed, for it covers an area of about 1,500 feet by 
1,000 feet, which seems to be nearly equal to one-fifth of 
the whole compass of the modern city. 

Passing the way where Ave now stood, we know that our 
Saviour, coming from Galilee by the route of Jericho, 
first entered Jerusalem, after the commencement of his 
ministry ; and from this spot he would perhaps for the first 
time look down upon the doomed city, so early to wit- 
ness the terrible consequence of its stubbornness and cor- 
ruption. We are at least told that he at one time lodged 
in the city of Bethany, from which we may conclude that 
we here walked upon the very path that he trod, when 
he daily taught his disciples at the Mount of Olives, 
during the short periods of his sojourn at or near Jeru- 
salem, from the day of his public entry into the city, 
until the time of his crucifixion. 

But, alas ! J erusalem, thou existest no more ! There no 
longer remaineth a ray of thy former glory, a shade of 
thy power, a vestige of thy beautiful temple ! Armies 
have encompassed thee, and what thou didst possess that 
was most precious to thee, is buried with the ruins of 
that mighty fabric, which in the day of thy pride thou 
didst believe to be eternal ! 



260 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Upon the summit of the Mount of Olives, by the ruins 
of a mosque, stands the Church of the Ascension, upon 
the presumed site of that event, and upon which I shall 
make but a single observation. St. Luke only, of the 
Evangelists, I believe, clearly mentions the visible ascen- 
sion, and the passage in the former seems rather to indicate 
that it took place in the presence of the eleven as they 
sat at meat, and the inference would therefore be that 
it happened within a room at Jerusalem, which is mani- 
festly opposed to the clear description of St. Luke, who says 
that Jesus led his disciples out as far as Bethany, where, 
while he blessed them, he was parted from them and car- 
ried up into heaven. 

Now those who believe that by Bethany is here meant 
to indicate a whole district, may place the site of the 
ascension where it is most agreeable to their particular 
ideas of the importance of the selection of a place that 
should be consonant with the grandeur of the event, while 
those who perceive no occasion for this argument will 
probably fix the site of the parting of Jesus from his dis- 
ciples at the very entrance of the city, where our Saviour 
is said to have lodged. The church, however, which is 
not in itself an edifice worthy of particular notice, pre- 
serves within its walls one of those pretended relics that 
shock common sense, and sometimes for a moment almost 
persuade us that the holy brotherhood in the Eoman 
Catholic churches have fallen below the rank of rational 
beings. A large stone or portion of a rock is here ex- 
hibited, upon which is shown the print, it is said, of our 
Saviour's foot, or feet, made by his step, immediately 
before he ascended to heaven. It reminded me of that 
shown of Mahomet, or Mahomet's camel, at one of the 
mosques at the tombs of the Mamalukes, near Cairo. A 



THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



261 



folly, indeed, of the same kind is to be seen in one of 
the churches at Eome. 

The view from the elevated ground near Jerusalem, on 
all sides save the east and south-east, has been already 
mentioned. That in these directions which is here seen 
is still more extensive, but can hardly be said to compre- 
hend a portion of cultivated country sufficient to redeem 
it from the character of one vast and sterile waste, differ- 
ing only from the country of the great desert in the supe- 
rior softness of the mountain scenery, and the greater 
variety of colours, which its more variable surface exhibits. 
A part of the Dead Sea, also, is here seen between the 
hills, with the whole of the extensive range of mountains 
east of that sea, which, at the distance from which you 
see them, by their similarity in colour, seem to form a 
mighty wall or barrier, which might long exclude the in- 
habitants beyond them from occupying the immediate 
vicinity of the sea. 

Descending from the summit of the Mount of Olives, 
we took the road leading along the base of the hill above 
the brook of Kedron, where the objects of interest which 
are shown are the tombs of Jehoshaphat, Absalom, 
and several others. These consist of small temples hewn 
out of the solid rock, and though slightly rent, and other- 
wise dilapidated, by time and weather, and perhaps by 
some shock of an earthquake, they stand singular monu- 
ments of art, and of the prevailing veneration among this 
ancient people for the ashes of the dead. Not all of the 
temples are open, and within those which we were able 
to enter there was no sarcophagus, and no remains of any- 
thing that could throw light upon the custom in use 
among the Jews for the preservation of bodies from decay 
after death. 



262 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



From this we ascended again about half-way up the 
mount by a different route from that which we had taken 
before, where we entered some caverns a little resembling 
the tombs in Egypt, and called by the inhabitants, the 
sepulchres of the prophets. From this we returned by a 
pathway to the garden of Gethsemane, and after passing 
the bridge across the Kedron, we re-entered Jerusalem 
by the gate of St. Stephen, and proceeded to our tents by 
the same way that we had left the city. 



263 



CHAPTEE XXXII 

Jerusalem — continued. 

Ceremonies in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in commemoration of the 
Crucifixion of our Saviour. 

I shall now give an account of some of those ceremonies 
of which I witnessed the performance by the Christians 
at Jerusalem, on the anniversary of the crucifixion of our 
Saviour. My account will be as faithful a detail of what 
was enacted within the church of the holy sepulchre on 
the evening of that day, as a traveller ignorant of several 
of the languages in which exhortations were made and 
sermons preached, might be able to put to paper from a 
few memoranda made immediately after quitting the 
holy edifice. But I must premise, that I do not believe 
that any portion of the instructed or sensible part of any 
sect of Christians upon the face of the earth, could see 
these ceremonies enacted, without feelings of pity for the 
sad impressions which must possess the minds of a large 
portion of the Christian world. 

Oh, Eome, especially ! what error is there in religious 
impressions that thou hast not to answer for? The purity 
of heart and the simplicity of worship, inculcated by Him 
whose example your chief priests should follow, have been 
perverted and degraded by your superstitions, and by 
ceremonies that are a farce unworthy of rational beings to 



264 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



enact. But let the faint shadow of what passed within 
the church upon this evening, confirm the justice of this 
remark. 

We were at this time still encamped in the consul's 
garden ; and as the consul, with whose politeness we had 
every reason to be much satisfied, had frequently offered 
us the aid of one of his janizaries, we did not now scruple 
to avail ourselves of his renewed offer, and taking this 
useful appendage to consular dignity and valuable aid 
to travellers, we descended together to the church of 
St. Sepulchre ; making our way through the crowds 
assembled, we easily gained the door of the church, which 
we found closed, and, as the by-standers informed us, 
for the night. But our janizary now knocked pretty 
loudly with his staff, and was instantly answered from 
within ; and, before his demand was well proclaimed, the 
door was thrown open to us to enter, and closed again 
the instant we were within. 

The inner portion of the vestibule of the church was 
not crowded, but there was a fair number of pilgrims, 
chiefly in the Arab and Turkish costume, with a few men 
evidently Europeans. The greater part of the former 
were kneeling, sitting, or lying down, while the Euro- 
peans were standing. But there is in this part of the 
church a recess in the wall, in which ten or twelve 
rather well-dressed Arabs were seated, luxuriously re- 
galing themselves with the everlasting tchebook, without 
the appearance of any consciousness of the awful repre- 
sentation that the monks were performing in the holy 
place. 

We now made our way to the space immediately 
beneath the grand dome, where we found a guard of 
Turkish soldiers, so disposed as to plainly show that they 
were keeping guard over the sepulchre ; and it was 



JERUSALEM. 



265 



impossible for any one not to be here struck with this 
proof — and I saw many afterwards — of the tolerance 
of the Turks in times not out of joint by that religious 
frenzy, which has more or less disgraced every popular 
religion, under every form or name, by which Jews, 
Christians, Mahometans, and men of other creeds have 
been distinguished. 

The Turkish guard extended in single file along either 
side of the aisle that led directly to the Latin chapel, but 
they were so far apart as to leave a broad passage for the 
ingress and egress of the pilgrims and monks ; but when 
we reached this part of the church Ave found the chapel 
closed, and we had not the opportunity of witnessing the 
high mass which preceded the exhibition which followed ; 
but in a few minutes the doors were thrown open, and a 
priest, stepping to the top of the stone stairs which led 
from the aisle to the chapel above, delivered a short 
discourse in Latin ; after which, the procession, already 
formed within, commenced a solemn march. 

The superior of the Latins, who was at the head of the 
procession, first descended the steps, followed by several 
of the more aged of the brethren with their ranks skirted 
by torch-bearers. Then came one of their order, richly 
habited, and carrying a cross, to which was nailed the 
representation of the Saviour in the attitude in which we 
are accustomed to see the shocking spectacle. 

In the present case, the monks had a figure about four 
feet in length, finely carved in wood, and painted with so 
faithful a representation of the contortions of the body in 
the hour of violent death, that its display by torch-light 
could not fail to shock or strongly affect the mind of 
every one who beheld it. They slowly moved on, and 
we followed them, with a train of men and boys, till 
they came by the stone stairs before mentioned as 



266 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



leading to the narrow chapel which is parallel with the 
crucifix on the supposed site of Mount Calvary. Here 
the figure was placed near the altar ; and, as soon as the 
monks and their followers had made a disposition of their 
forces to the best advantage for the whole company to see 
as well as hear, by forming a lane lighted on both sides 
from one end of the chapel to the other, a monk placed 
himself on the right of the supposed mount and made a 
long discourse in Spanish, for the benefit of the pilgrims 
of that nation that might be present ; and that there was 
much fervour in his discourse, was apparent from its 
effects upon the hearers. 

A large body of holy men and pilgrims now came to 
the Chapel of Calvary, where the proceedings took a 
character more decisive in the representation of the 
closing scene of our Saviour's life. The crucifix brought 
by the Latins, with the figure which it held, was now 
erected on the mount ; and an Italian monk, placing 
himself in advance on the right of the cross, commenced 
a discourse in his native tongue, which was the most 
remarkable that it had ever fallen to my lot to hear 
from any Christian preacher in any land ; and I en- 
deavoured, while the discourse was still fresh in my 
memory, to set down a few passages, which I will here 
transcribe, with this protest — that there is as much only 
of the original in the translation as may serve to give 
some slight idea of what I would willingly give more 
correctly and in full. 

When the Italian father seemed to have sufficiently 
warmed the passions of his hearers, he stretched forth 
his right hand and exclaimed : — 

' Christians ! brothers ! men ! which of you hath the 
heart so cold that ye have never felt the influence of 
some powerful passion ? which of you is so blind that ye 



JERUSALEM. 



267 



cannot now perceive the sufferings of the Saviour on 
Mount Calvary — so slow to observe, that the sight of 
God crucified does not touch your souls? If there be 
such a man among you, let him stand forth. Let him 
raise his eyes, and contemplate the sufferings of God! 
Let him look ' — and here the monk stretched forth his 
right hand towards the figure — £ upon the sinews of the 
Saviour, and transfer their strains, their agony to his own 
frame ; and if his heart throb not, let him '—pointing to 
the bosom of the figure — 4 look upon this alone ! The 
heart of God ! Can ye not perceive its throbs ? Listen, 
oh, listen ! to the sighs that proceed from the heart — to 
the groans that issue from the departing spirit — still God 
and man — still alive ! Oh, Christians ! children ! do 
ye not bleed within, when ye see the red drops fall from 
the pierced Saviour — from your God ? ' Then the holy 
father stretched forth both his hands towards the crucifix, 
and exclaimed : c His lips yet move — he speaks ! "Father," 
says the Saviour, " into thy hands I commend my spirit." ' 
The groans and sobs of the assembled pilgrims were now 
at the highest, and one among them shrieked aloud. Then 
the monk, after a moment's pause, continued : 'Oh! speak 
once again, most blessed Saviour ! No, no ! not a sound 
is heard. His neck bends— his head falls ; yet 't is not 
death ! His heart still beats ! ' Then after a pause — ' It 
beats no more. 'T is finished ! The hands of men have 
crucified God ! ' Then, in a strain still louder than 
before : 6 Yet, may we still hear his voice ? No — 't is 
the thunder — the rocks rend — the powers of darkness 
prevail ! ' 

Though the monk now stopped speaking, he stood 
with his hands closed, still contemplating the crucifix, 
and there was for several minutes a dead silence ; then 
two monks mounted, one on either side of the cross, and 



268 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



passed a scarf under the arms and around the body of 
the figure, when the preacher ascended the steps also, 
and with an ample pair of pincers began to remove the 
nails which bound it to the cross. He first applied his 
instrument to the nail which bound the right hand, and 
then, in a manner which did not at all contribute to the 
solemnity of the occasion, he held up the nail or spike 
with the instrument with which he had withdrawn it, 
and with the full stretch of his arm gave it a slow turn 
round his head, and then placed it as. carefully as if he 
feared it breaking, upon the table which stood imme- 
diately in front of the cross. He then proceeded to 
repeat precisely the same action with the nail from 
the other hand, and with that also which bound the 
feet, until the figure swung by the scarf held by two 
monks on the platform above. This was now most 
carefully lowered from the cross, and laid out upon 
the table in front ; but, after another minute of suspense, 
a bier passed up the lane in the middle of the chapel, 
borne by four monks, who, when they reached the spot, 
turned the side of their charge towards the table, upon 
which they all joined in delicately transferring the figure 
to the bier ; after which the superior again took his place 
in front of the party, and the procession returned to the 
lower aisle of the crowded edifice. 

We now hoped that the exhibition was at an end, and 
that the mourners were on their way to the sepulchre to 
deposit the body ; but we were mistaken. The solemn 
procession made nearly the round of the church, stopping 
at every thirty or forty paces to listen to a short exhorta- 
tion from one of the monks, until they came to a raised 
marble slab, over which a canopy had been erected, im- 
mediately opposite the chief vestibule of the church. Upon 
this they placed the figure, and two of the monks imme- 



JERUSALEM. 



269 



diately commenced the ceremony of washing it, in which 
they were as particular and serious as if they really were 
preparing a bloody corse for the clean linen in which it 
was intended to wrap it. 

There was some relief, however, here given to the exhi- 
bition, by the presence of two of the fair sex, the only 
ones we saw in the church, who played each a part in this 
portion of the drama. We were fortunate enough to be 
within the crowd, and to stand directly opposite these 
representatives of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene, for 
which had been chosen the two prettiest women we had 
seen since we had entered the countries of the veil. 
They were also beautifully dressed in the Arab style, 
save the veil, and there was great humility and modesty 
in their appearance as they knelt down and closed their 
hands, between the corse and the crowd behind them ; 
and each of them carried a taper, which gave every 
possible advantage to this happy relief from feelings 
which must, more or less, press upon the mind of every 
reflecting being who should witness scenes so opposed 
to those better conceptions of the Deity, and of the 
actions of men most pleasing to Him, which Ave are fond 
of practising in a happier land. 

After this last open ceremony a sermon was preached 
in the Arabic language ; and when this was finished the 
prepared body was carried away, and deposited in the 
sepulchre before described. 



270 



C H APT E E XXXIII. 

Jerusalem — continued. 

Valley of Jehoshaphat — King David's Criminal Amour — Sepulchre of 
Samuel at Hainan — The Mosque — The Minaret — Tombs of the Judges 
and the Kings — Lazarus's reported Burial-place. 

The next time that we passed beyond the walls which 
surround Jerusalem, we engaged the same guide, and taking 
the same way as before, we again passed the gate of 
St. Stephen. The eastern wall of the city through which 
this gate passes is near 3,000 ft. in length, and extends 
in nearly a right line due north and south. It is solidly 
built of hewn stone, and crowned with turrets and towers 
where it does not form the outer wall of the spacious 
court of the mosque of Omar, which extends from the 
southern extremity to half the full length of the wall, 
unbroken in its uniformity save by a small gate, now 
closed, which is known by the appellation of the golden 
gate. 

Turning short upon the right hand after passing the 
gate, we followed a pathway, which led us along a nar- 
row platform of ground between the high wall and the 
valley of Jehoshaphat, which is covered with tombs. 
This is the Turkish burial-place, and is, of course, ex- 
clusively occupied by the bodies of those of that rude and 
proud race who die at Jerusalem ; and it is not without 
reason that it is considered by the living Turks as a great 
privilege to know that their bodies will repose here ; for it 



JERUSALEM. 



271 



is, strangely enough, currently believed among the Mussul- 
mans, but not upon the authority of the Koran, that on 
the clay of judgment the examining angels will stand 
upon the lofty walls which overlook the valley of Jeho- 
shaphat, and calling upon the dead to come forth from 
their graves, proceed first to the judgment to which they 
are appointed with those who first hear the call and 
appear ; so that, dying in the certain hope in which all 
good Mussulmans give up the ghost, they may fondly 
calculate upon being the first who will enjoy the embraces 
of the fair spirits, to be created expressly for the true 
believers in the paradise which they hope to inhabit. 

The whole of the valley has not, however, at any time 
been exclusively occupied by the bodies of Turks and other 
Mahometan people. The burial-place of the Jews covers 
a great extent of ground on the opposite side of the valley 
below that of the Moslems. Many of that so long perse- 
cuted race come from distant parts of the world to die at 
Jerusalem ; and it is doubtless owing to the innumerable 
hosts of the dead of every creed that sleep in this exten- 
sive valley, that has given rise to the belief, which is by 
no means confined to the Mussulmans, of its being the 
fixed place for the universal judgment of mankind. 

From the south-east point of the wall, we descended 
to the lower part of the valley, and keeping a pathway 
running between the dry course of the brook and the site 
of the ancient walls in a south-western direction, we came 
to the upper pool of Siloam, the sacred stream invoked 
by our great epic poet when about to 

' Tell of tilings yet unattempt in prose or rhyme.' 

The pool is formed by a cavern in a rock, to which we 
descended by stone steps, which, however, were doubtless 
unnecessary, if the water were even high enough to form 



272 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



a stream. At some 12 ft. or 14 ft. from the entrance of 
the cavern we found a pool of a milky colour, about 8 ft. 
square, and 5 ft. or 6 ft. deep ; but from this we descended 
to another pool of the same kind, now nearly dry, and 
called the lower pool of Siloam. 

After leaving the valley of Jehoshaphat, we crossed 
the brook of Gibeon, which has sometimes running water, 
but was now dry. It forms the ditch before mentioned 
which separates Mount Zion and the western wall of 
Jerusalem from the undulating country in that direction. 
Here we crossed a rocky field with little soil, which is 
said to be that purchased by the chief priests and elders 
of the Jews, with the returned thirty pieces of silver for 
which Jesus was betrayed, and which is called the potter's 
field. 

From this we returned to the city, which we entered 
by the gate of Bethlehem. 

To notice every place within and around Jerusalem 
which is reported to be the site of some event recorded 
in scriptural history, would be to name every spot, both 
within and for a great space without the modern walls ; 
but I shall here mention what is reported of a place which 
we were shown near this entrance into the city, to show 
merely the disposition of the people to gratify the curious 
travellers who come to visit their city. 

Here, on the right hand after passing the gate, stand 
the ruins of a castle, extending its walls obliquely to the 
proper walls of the city. It covers an area of about 
500 ft. by 300 ft., and has a dry pool beneath its walls ; 
and here the creative imaginations of men of the three 
religions which flourish at Jerusalem have placed the 
site of the first scene in the touching story in which the 
king of Israel with the wife of the Hittite acted so 
shameful a part. 



JERUSALEM. 



273 



From the roof of this castle, it is said that David, walk- 
ing after his siesta in the cool of the evening, saw the 
wife of Uriah bathing, and conceived that passion which 
ended in the king's humiliation, and was probably the 
greatest blot in the sacred hero's life. 

A few days after this little tour, we made an excursion 
on horseback without the walls of the city. Our principal 
object was to visit the place of residence and the sepulchre 
of the Prophet Samuel at Eamah. We left Jerusalem by 
the gate of Bethlehem, and for a short distance followed 
the rough and stony way towards Jaffa ; but soon deviating 
from that track, we descended into the valley which sepa- 
rates the high lands of the holy city from those which 
obstruct the view of the sea. Here we followed the dry 
course of a stream, such as is often found in countries where 
the direct way is interrupted by rugged and inaccessible 
steeps ; after which we mounted to a more fertile district, 
where we found terraces sown with barley, and here and 
there an aged olive-tree, and a few stunted prickly oaks. 

Along these narrow fields we rode generally in view of 
the mountain village of Eamah, and of the lofty stone 
fabric over the prophet's tomb, which it was our purpose 
to attain. But it was not without two or three hours' 
difficult march, such as only horses accustomed to a moun- 
tainous country could accomplish, that we attained the 
village. 

Though the burial-place of the prophet is so near to 
Jerusalem, few travellers visit it ; yet the locality itself is 
of considerable interest. A European, when in the east, 
soon learns to distinguish between those parts of the 
country and those villages long frequented by travellers, 
and the less known places of interest in the same land. 
In the first of these his purse will procure him almost 
every privilege he may desire, and in the second the 



274 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



curiosity and sometimes good feeling of the natives will 
aid him wherever assistance may be required. 

Little communion ever takes' place between the inhabi- 
tants of villages in Syria that even look upon each other 
from the opposite hills of a mountainous country. Each 
village has its own means of living, even to clothing ; for, 
save the equestrian sheykh, there is generally not an indi- 
vidual that is not supplied wholly by the village flock, and 
his own or his neighbour's spinning-wheel, with every 
article of necessary clothing. His food, indeed, is rarely 
choice, and his raiment never elegant ; and where the 
government, which never forgets to place every abode in 
the register-book of taxation, interferes no further than to 
gather its dues, the population subsists fairly ; but where 
some petty tyrant exacts excessive taxation, and adds to 
this, annual conscriptions, by which the youth are taken 
from their homes and sent on military service, never to 
return to the place of their birth, the population dwindles 
down to a few wretched families, with none to work the 
land save a few men whom their mothers have, in the 
time of their infancy, as the only means of guarding them, 
deprived of the right eye. Here the old men are seen 
sitting about the doors of their hovels, sullen and uncom- 
municative, while the women he upon the bare ground 
within, and are never seen in the villages by strangers 
unless surprised when following their naked children, who 
have escaped for a moment from their wolfish habitations. 
Such seemed to be the character of the habitants near 
the sepulchre of the prophet who changed the religious 
government of his country to that of monarchy by anoint- 
ing the first king of Israel. 

The few women that were now in the fields at Eamah 
fled at our approach, and as we passed before their hovels 
near the prophet's tomb, we saw six or seven old or 



JERUSALEM. 



275 



middle-aged men seated in sullen contemplation, not one 
of whom approached us or spoke a word. Not even a 
boy came to take the bridle of our horses when we dis- 
mounted. There was an air indeed about the village and 
vicinity of Kamah, that told a tale more clearly than a 
written history could have comprised. 

From this high summit we were able to overlook a 
hundred hills that once teemed with the earth's abun- 
dance, but were now sterile. The very mosque which 
covers the tomb of the prophet, seemed like 4 the pall of 
a past world ' set over the resting-place of the mortal 
remains of one that once ruled the passions of the chiefs 
among a most ancient people, and whose religious laws 
still govern their descendants, and are held by ourselves 
to be of divine origin. 

This mosque, however, is one of those which, are 
not used now as houses of prayer ; and as there was no 
Mussulman guard to arrest the 6 unhallowed step of a 
Christian ' across the unfrequented threshold, we entered 
without opposition. The interior of the building is the 
same as that of most other mosques, with the want of 
little more than the mats and lamps ; but at the side op- 
posite the entrance, there is a small door firmly closed, 
and within this, the traveller is told, he the remains of the 
prophet. We stood a moment and no more at the door ; 
but such were our mixed feelings of just curiosity, that I 
believe, had we had the means, we should have violated 
the sanctuary and forced our way, to view at least the 
sarcophagus in the chamber of death. 

We next mounted to the pinnacle of the minaret that 
rises from the mosque ; but on account of the weather 
we did not here obtain the full view which we expected 
on every side around. On the east we might look upon 
the holy city and the Mount of Olives, and we distinctly 

T 2 



276 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



discovered the sterile country towards the coasts of the 
Dead Sea and the plains of the Jordan, while on the 
north and south, hill over hill, and dales and plains pre- 
sented a vast country, not indeed generally fertile, but 
exhibiting the variety of tints and shades that accompanies 
every degree even of natural vegetation, and a thick mist 
hid the hills near the coast, and the sea, from our sight. 

Descending from Eamah, we took a northern circuit to 
Bethelina, in order to visit the tombs of the judges and 
the tombs of the kings. The former are mere excavations 
in the wall of a table-rock, and present nothing worth 
notice. They are at about five miles from the modern 
walls of the city ; but those of the kings, which lie within 
the supposed site of the ancient walls, are somewhat re- 
markable. To enter them at this time we had to creep 
through a pierced archway into a walled square, where a 
splendid anciently sculptured facade, chiefly representing 
designs in flowers, presented itself. From this we de- 
scended into numerous vaults, which had been once the 
habitations of the dead, but long since robbed of every 
particle of the human ashes they once contained. They 
are poor imitations of the tombs of Egypt, equal to 
which, I suppose, it must be conceded, there are no 
remains of the ancient world so well preserved, and no 
modern discovery of ancient works so interesting and 
instructive. 

After visiting these tombs, we followed the road be- 
neath the wall upon the east side of Jerusalem, and once 
more passed over the bridge of the Kedron ; and by the 
garden of Gethsemane we again ascended the stony road 
of the Mount of Olives. 

Some doubts have been expressed whether the Church 
of the Ascension was really placed upon the spot that the 
Evangelist who records the particular ascension of our 



JERUSALEM. 



277 



Saviour in the presence of his disciples, intended to in- 
dicate, and it is thought that the only precise description 
of this event which is found in St. Luke * would not with- 
out a strained reading admit of fixing the site of the event 
he records upon that mountain. With this impression on 
our minds, we passed to the present hamlet of Bethany, 
now little more than a heap of ruins, impressed with the 
belief that St. Luke intended to place the spot from 
which the Saviour ascended at the very door of the town 
where, as we read in the same Evangelist, He went out to 
lodge, and where, according to St. John, the sisters Martha 
and Mary and their brother Lazarus dwelt, where Lazarus 
was raised from the dead, and even where Jesus himself 
came and supped after his retirement with his disciples 
to the city near to the wilderness called Ephraim, for fear 
of the Jews, six days before the passover, and the night 
before his entry into Jerusalem. 

We were here shown a cave which is supposed to be 
that in which Lazarus was buried, and from which he 
was raised from the dead ; and there is nothing here to 
be found contrary to the description of the place of that 
event given by St. Luke. The ruins of the house of Mary 
and Martha are also said to be identified. 

From Bethany we returned by the Mount of Olives to 
Jerusalem, after having made nearly the entire circuit of 
the city. 

* Luke xxiv. 50 ; cf. Acts i. 12. 



278 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



CHAPTEE XXXIV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF A TOUR, COMPREHENDING HEBRON, 
THE DEAD SEA, AND RIVER JORDAN. 

Error in the Arrangements for our Departure — Arrival at Hebron — The 
Israelites — Their Hospitality — Some Opinions of the Author of 
Christianity. 

After passing three weeks at Jerusalem, our party united 
with another party of three gentlemen to make a tour, 
comprising in our route the city of Hebron, which we had 
passed by without entering, on our way from the desert 
to the holy city, the coasts of the Dead Sea, the plains 
of Jericho, and the river Jordan ; and as a portion of this 
tour had some of that kind of interest which has in the 
course of these sketches been put in a more prominent 
light than such Biblical matters as have engaged the re- 
searches and employed the better prepared pens of others, 
I shall, as the occasion arises, be a little more minute in 
details which might be inopportune or inadmissible in 
any of the works to which I refer. 

Hebron stands about eighteen miles south of Jerusalem, 
and it was Easter Monday, which is the day that the pil- 
grims leave Jerusalem in great numbers to bathe in the 
Jordan, that had been chosen for the commencement of 
our tour, and this led to an ill-omened beginning of our 
journey. We had heard from the British consul that the 
strangers were so numerous in J erusalem, that the gate of 
St. Stephen, by which we were to pass, would be crowded to 



HEBRON, THE DEAD SEA, AND RIVER JORDAN. 279 

such a degree from an hour before sunrise, that we could 
not with our horses and loaded mules get without the 
walls before the sun was at least two hours above the 
horizon. Our party were not therefore very diligent in 
their preparations in the morning. In the meantime, 
the party with whom we were to join, who were encamped 
at another part of the town, without giving us notice, 
escaped by the Bethlehem gate before we thought it ad- 
visable to strike our tents and pass through the gate by 
which it was most natural that we should make our 
exit. One of our party had however joined them, without 
knowing their intentions and without his loaded mules, 
in order to cement the link which should unite us during 
the tour. 

After raising our tents we descended by the Via Dolo- 
rosa, in company with a few stragglers, behind the closer 
ranks of the pilgrims, who were escorted by five hundred 
Turkish soldiers, sent by the Pasha of Jerusalem for their 
protection against the Bedouins, who, at this season espe- 
cially, come from beyond the Jordan, to plunder any 
ramblers from the main body of the Christian camp. 

But before we reached the gate of St. Stephen our at- 
tention was attracted by the novel sight of numbers of 
Christian women and some old men and children, who 
were sitting or lying upon the banks and rocks on either 
side of the way, where they had come to see the pilgrims 
march out of the city on their pious journey. The sight 
was the more novel to us, from the unusual number of 
the well-dressed class of women who so rarely appear 
without doors in the East. We too were perhaps, on 
account of our half-European dresses, rather objects of 
curiosity to the greater part of them, seeing that the 
Christians who visit Jerusalem, almost wholly come from 
Syria, Turkey, and Greece, and that it is rare, even at 



280 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



this season, to see more than a few tattered Germans and 
Italians, dressed more in the western than the eastern 
fashion ; so that it was not until we had had enough of 
admiration of each other that we passed the gate of 
St. Stephen, when we turned towards the right, and 
hastened by the shortest route round the walls of the city 
to the Bethlehem road, in hopes of falhng in with our 
countrymen, who we were at this time aware had left the 
city by the gate opposite. When we reached the road 
we continued our way, passing through the city of David 
and by the famous pools of Solomon, both of which 
places will engage some attention a little later. We 
neither found our friends nor were able to gain informa- 
tion about them, but we had little anxiety on their 
account, for we believed it to be their intention to 
take a circuitous route to the city of Hebron, which 
our detention in the morning prevented us following. 

Along the earlier part of the way we found little cul- 
tivation, and no wild vegetation save the prickly oak and 
some stunted bushes of the fir tribe ; but we passed the 
ruins of anciently fortified towns, which probably flourished 
before the Israelites came into the land of promise ; but 
in the immediate approach to Hebron there was more 
vegetation and more varied scenery. 

As we drew near the ancient city by a pathway round 
the base of a sterile hill, a broader valley and higher 
lands opened gradually to our view, presenting the city, 
mixed with more green than common, in three distinct 
parts, occupying a large portion of the open valley which 
intervenes between the rocky hills or mountains on either 
hand. We had made great expedition, and before the 
sun went down we had arrived without accident at the 
gate of Hebron, yet without having heard anything of our 
friends. We entertained hopes, however, that if they 



HEBRON, THE DEAD SEA, AND RIVER JORDAN. 281 

should not arrive that night, they would be able to 
encamp safely until the morning in one of the neighbour- 
ing Wadys. 

We had ourselves some just hesitation about entering 
the town that evening. There is no convent in Hebron, 
and European travellers who find their way to the city 
usually encamp without the town ; we therefore began to 
make our arrangements for pitching our tents, but we had 
scarcely commenced this, before some Israelites came out 
of the town, and invited us to take up our residence in 
their quarter, to which we .consented. 

The quarter which these good people inhabit is all 
comprised within a long alley, and its ramifications and 
courts, with a single gate of ingress and egress ; but 
within this limited space there are still remaining about 
two hundred of the sons and daughters of the promised 
land, who still bow the knee before the altar of Moses, 
and still acknowledge no other religious guide than the 
institutor of their ceremonies. 

We now remounted our horses, and after entering the 
town, we rode up to the gate of their quarter, where we 
were met by several of the more venerable among them, 
who immediately invited us to enter. In the meantime, 
the street without had become so crowded with the 
people of the town, that our servants began to doubt 
whether we should get everything safely within the gate 
of the alley which we were about to inhabit, without 
a scuffle, which might be serious, with some of the half- 
savage race of whom the population of Hebron is com- 
posed. Their fears, however, proved groundless, and we 
were hardly inside their gates before we received the 
friendly salaam from both men and women, who informed 
us that apartments would be immediately prepared for 
our reception. The women especially, who were invited, 



282 



TRAVELS IjST EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



smiled with the most good-natured and expressive coun- 
tenances in the world, to which charm was added this 
new and peculiar interest, that they were the first of the 
fair sex whom we had seen properly unveiled since we 
quitted Greece. 

The inhabitants generally of these districts are as fair 
as the people of the south of Europe ; and these Hebron 
women, with their dark eyes, set in a full face, and contrast- 
ing with a fair skin, did not seem to us inferior in beauty to 
any women we had ever seen beyond the bounds of our 
own isle. They were generally dressed in white or blue 
cotton jackets over white muslin, with long white loose 
drawers similar to those worn by the Arab women, 
girdled at the waist and tied at the ankle, and they wore 
rolled coloured silk handkerchiefs about the head, re- 
sembling a turban, and red Arab slippers. 

We were now conducted by two or three of the foremost 
men through this long alley, where we were greeted at 
the doors by men and women with every expression of 
welcome, until we came to very good apartments at its 
termination. The principal chamber was clean and well 
whitewashed with stone walls stuccoed, and had a well- 
paved floor, neat low divans, reaching nearly the round 
of the room, and was lighted by three rather small 
windows, placed so high that we could not get up to see 
through them without a ladder, which did not seem to be 
a part of the furniture of the room ; but to overlook any- 
thing without the house is not among the privileges of the 
Israelites of the East, and the houses are constructed in 
conformity with the restrictions which prevail in the 
country. Besides this large apartment, our servants were 
provided with another, and a kitchen was also appro- 
priated to our use. 

As soon as our hospitable friends had well established 



HEBRON, THE DEAD SEA, AND EIVER JORDAN. 283 

us (at what sacrifice to themselves we knew not), they 
retired, upon which our servants provided a repast ; and 
as it was now sunset and we had not eaten since sun- 
rise, we were glad to partake of a meal, and have the 
fatigues of the day further repaired by some sweet wines 
of the mountains, with which we were furnished by our 
hospitable Hebrew friends. 

After we had supped, our chief host and his brother, 
with their wives and sisters unveiled, came to converse 
with us, and we had a short discourse concerning their 
condition under the Mussulman rule ; but as this could 
not be carried on without the intervention of an inter- 
preter, we learned only what assured us of the painful 
restraint under which they passed their lives. 

Our hosts now retired, and as soon as they left us we 
expressed to each other some of the thoughts with which 
our reception had inspired us. 

' If we had not met with Israelites,' said one of the 
party, 'we must have encamped without the town, ex- 
posed to the cold and not a little danger of an attack.' 

' And yet this very people,' said another, ' who ac- 
knowledge the whole of the ancient Scriptures, for which 
we entertain the same reverence as they do, are left by 
Europeans to the cruel persecutions which they suffer 
from a race unworthy of the smallest consideration of 
the people of any enlightened nation.' 

' They treat us as kindly,' said a third, ' as it is possible 
they could treat any travellers of their own creed.' 

6 They know,' was next said by one of the party 
who had spoken before, 'our reverence for all they 
esteem revelation or holy, and they know that the 
author of our religion was himself an Israelite ; and, 
although they do not believe that his preaching was 
undertaken for forming a new code of laws — a new 



284 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



religion— they must acknowledge his endeavours to 
purify the Church from the corruptions that had entered 
therein.' 

4 There are many among this people,' was then said, 
4 that believe the author of Christianity to have been a 
rash innovator, and if Christian Europe freed the whole of 
them to-morrow, they would continue to entertain the 
same opinions.' 

' These have neither read nor thought,' was the 
reply. 

6 1 should like to know,' was next said, 4 the special 
passages in the Scriptures which have taught them what 
we consider at least one of the greater of Christian vir- 
tues — hospitality ! ' 

4 At all events,' then said another of our party, 4 if the 
sovereigns of Europe who carry on war for the purpose 
of maintaining that influence with their own people for 
which the British sovereign has no need, were to make 
war in Asia and Africa for the liberty of the oppressed 
Israelites, the loss of their subjects would be better com- 
pensated than can happen from the wars of Christians 
against one another.' 

After this, the mattresses that had been given to us 
were placed by our servants upon the couches in the 
ample room, and we lay down for the night. 



285 



CHAPTEE XXXV. 

HEBKON. 

Tombs of the Patriarchs — The famous Tree— Meeting with our Friends — 
Their Adventures — Attack upon our Servants — Account of the Hall of 
Justice — Delays — Arrival of our Fellow-travellers — A new Light thrown 
upon our Dispute — The Conduct of our Friends the Jews — Our firm Refusal 
of their Propositions — Offer given us to view the Tombs of the Patriarchs 
— Result of the Affair. 

Our first object on the morning after our arrival at 
Hebron, was to see the exterior of what is believed to be 
justly called the tomb of the Patriarchs, upon the very 
plot of ground which Abraham purchased of the sons 
of Heth, when a stranger in the land of Canaan, and first 
buried Sarah his wife in the cave and sepulchre of Mach- 
pelah, where the Father of the Jews himself, and also 
Isaac and Eebecca and Jacob and Eachel, were afterwards 
entombed. But the sons of the bondwoman now possess 
the land, while nor stranger nor descendant of the Patri- 
archs is permitted so much as to pass within the walls 
which enclose a square around the building which covers 
the tombs.* 

The walls which form the square have irregular turrets 
at the corners, and battlements on every side, and their 
lower portion appears to be formed of brown limestone, 
like the stone shown at Jerusalem for a part of Solomon's 
temple ; the rest is of unhewn stone stuccoed, and 

* The Prince of Wales had not then been at Hebron. 



286 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



has the appearance of having been placed to repair the 
ruins of a prior work. On the lower side, from the hill 
behind, there is a door, with a grating, through which, 
by Mussulman charity, the Israelites are permitted to 
look upon the entrance of the building within. 

We mounted the hill in the rear of this burial-place, 
from which a small building, in the form of a mosque, 
may be seen within the walls. The whole that appears, 
however, is calculated to impress strongly the conviction 
that the ground which the walls enclose is that which 
was bought by Abraham, and is so distinctly described in 
the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Genesis. We 
therefore sat down here and enjoyed the impression on 
our minds of the agreement of sacred history with the 
scene before us, uninterrupted by such foolish legends as 
are told, not only by Jerusalem guides, but by almost 
all the guides that conduct strangers throughout the Holy 
Land. 

We were seated while we took our view, about fifty 
paces in front of two caves, which have been used as 
other burial-places ; but we remained here for only a 
short time, as we were not properly armed, and it was 
the opinion of our Hebrew guide, that we did not sit in 
great safety. We stayed, however, long enough for one 
of the party to make a sketch of the enclosure below us, 
after which we descended the hill and re-entered the 
town. 

The rest of the morning we passed in examining the 
bazaars and streets of Hebron, and the cisterns or pools ; 
and in the afternoon we mounted our horses and rode 
out to a famous tree — for the people of Hebron are not 
without such legendary tales as are common throughout 
the land — the tree under which Abraham is said to have 
entertained the angels which brought him the second 



HEBRON. 



287 



promise of a son* The tree, however, is remarkable 
from its enormous size, and is doubtless of great age. ' It 
covers an immense space of ground under its wide- 
spreading branches, and it is at least in the plain or 
valley of Mamre named in the Scriptures, which is the 
same with Hebron.f The tree is of the kind often men- 
tioned as so common in Judaea, and has been called the 
prickly oak. 

We remained beneath the branches of this tree until 
near sunset, in hopes of seeing the approach of the rest 
of our party, for the safety of whom we began to enter- 
tain some apprehensions ; and we had determined, if 
they did not appear that evening, to send to the British 
consul at Jerusalem, to beg he would demand from the 
Pasha a force sufficient to aid us in our search for them 
in the towns upon the route which we believed they 
had taken, and where they might be confined. But after 
we had mounted our horses and left the tree to return 
to the town, our difficulty was set aside by their appear- 
ance, and we rode back to meet them. We then listened 
to the tale of their adventures, as we sat on horseback 
under the shade of the famous tree. 

Their wish, it appeared, had been to see Bitelybrim, 
to the sheykh of which town our consul had procured 
one of the party a friendly letter from the Pasha at 
Jerusalem, which his highness had, however, informed 
them, notwithstanding that the governor at Jerusalem 
had no real control over the place, would assure the 
bearer thereof a satisfactory reception ; but the result 
not turning out as they had reason to anticipate, they 
were obliged to make a precipitate retreat, and they had 
slept during the past night upon the pebbles of the dry 



* Genesis xviii. 



t Genesis xxiii. 19. 



288 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND STEIA. 



watercourse of the same brook which divided the armies 
of Israel and those of the Philistines before the memorable 
contest between David and Goliah ; and, as they were 
by some accident almost without ammunition, they might 
have become a prey to an inconsiderable party of the 
barbarians, had the place of their retreat been known. 

We who had slept at Hebron now returned to our 
quarters for the night, while the rest pitched their tents 
and slept without the town. 

The day after this, we were preparing to quit Hebron 
for the coast of the Dead Sea, when we were for several 
hours detained by one of those common incidents which 
travellers in Palestine must expect, and the account of 
which will render it necessary to again introduce the 
sheykh of Dacchareer, from whom we received so impolite 
a reception on our entrance into the Holy Land. Our 
horses and mules had been ordered early, and we were 
making our preparations for departure at the inner end 
of the lane we inhabited, while the muleteers, with the 
assistance of our more familiar servants, were making 
their preparations in the street near the entrance, when 
our chief dragoman suddenly rushed into our room, with 
his face covered with blood, and followed by the rest of 
the servants in a state of great excitement, all declaring 
that they had been attacked by a party headed by the 
sheykh of Dacchareer, and which was too strong for 
them to oppose. 

The appearance of a bleeding man who had been 
stabbed in the face, which was pretty strong evidence 
that their retreat had not been made without at least 
some show of resistance, induced us to prepare to face 
the enemy, and attempt to make our way to the residence 
of the governor, to seek what redress we could obtain. 
We found no one, however, in arms in the street as we 



HEBRON. 



289 



came out of the lane, and we passed through the bazaar 
and several streets without experiencing any opposition 
to our passage, when we stumbled, accidentally as it 
appeared, upon the governor himself of the town. He 
was mounted and attended, and we instructed our 
chief dragoman to inform him that we had pressing 
business to transact with him, and that we should be 
much obliged by his giving us immediate audience in his 
palace or place for administering justice ; to which he 
replied, that since the matter was pressing he was quite 
ready to hear our complaint, without the necessity of 
going farther. This did not, however, accord with our 
impression of the serious character of the affair, and we 
therefore refused to &o into the matter in the street, but 
requested him to receive our complaint in his proper place 
of justice, however far off it might be. To this he now 
consented, but we did not, indeed, yet know what we after- 
wards discovered — that he was already acquainted with 
the affair. This, however, became plain enough in the 
course of the investigation that took place, and explained 
the cause, which will presently appear, why he wished to 
treat the matter so lightly. We arrived, however, at the 
Mahometan judgment-hall, of the appearance of wdiich 
I shall say a few words, before giving a little account of 
the process of which it became the scene. 

To attain the court we followed the governor, who 
mounted a broad flight of stone steps, which led to a 
gallery that overlooked a narrow open court. From the 
middle of this gallery a double door opened into a hall, 
which we crossed to reach the door of the court of justice, 
where his excellency made us first enter and then himself 
followed. 

Most rooms in the East have a raised and lower floor, 
and the latter sometimes occupies only a small portion 

u 



290 



TRAVELS m EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



of the area of the room on the side of the entrance, 
and it is the custom to put off the shoes or slippers be- 
fore stepping upon the higher part, which is not generally 
raised more than a foot above the lower. But the court of 
justice which we had now entered was exactly divided into 
two parts, by a difference in height, between the lower 
and upper floors, of about three feet, with ordinary steps 
in the centre to mount from the lower to the upper. The 
court appeared to be about seventy or eighty feet square, 
and had whitewashed walls, with windows and apertures 
to admit the light and air, all placed near the roof, which 
might be about twenty or five-and-twenty feet above the 
floors, while the only furniture in the whole space was a 
chair for the governor placed against the back of the 
upper portion of the court, and a straw mat which 
covered the upper floor. 

As soon as we were within the Mussulman court, the 
governor, after bidding us follow him, led the way to 
the upper floor, and seated himself upon the chair, and, 
after removing our shoes, we also mounted the steps, 
when, by signs, he bade us take our places on either side 
of the court. Upon this, we stretched ourselves upon 
the mat, after the fashion of the land ; and it seemed as 
if business was about to commence. 

His excellency now requested that he might hear the 
character of our complaint, upon which we instructed 
our wounded dragoman, who stood beneath the steps, to 
give an exact account of what had happened ; but he 
had scarcely begun his story before he was interrupted 
by the arrival of four or five attendants with sherbet, who. 
after pushing their way through the crowd that had beer 
allowed to occupy the lower floor, thrust the dragoman 
aside, and mounted and handed to each of us a draught 
of this most refreshing beverage, and stayed to carry away 



HEBRON. 



291 



the cups when empty. This made a pause of some 
minutes in the proceedings, during which we learned 
that the wounded man had been offered twenty dollars 
if he would induce us to drop the proceedings. But, 
upon learning this, we immediately all agreed that we 
would give no countenance to any arrangement of the 
kind. Our cups were now returned, and the bleeding 
man had an opportunity of beginning his tale again ; but 
he had scarcely uttered a dozen words before tchebooks 
were brought and handed to us by the attendants, which 
attention is generally considered the highest compliment 
that can be paid, as it places all the parties on an equa- 
lity and at their ease. We thought it quite time, how- 
ever, as soon as the attendants again retired, to show the 
earnestness with which we regarded the business which 
had brought us to the court, for we began to suspect 
that the politeness of the governor concealed more than 
we could understand, and we requested that no further 
interruption might take place, as a single hour with us 
was of very great importance ; but there was not time 
for the full deliverance of this request, before coffee 
came with the same number of attendants, and effected 
the same interruption, as before. This was a great 
trial for our patience, and we began to show some 
symptoms of anger, as a messenger arrived to inform us 
that all our mules were loaded and our horses saddled. 
Moreover, it was probable that if we lost another hour 
we should miss our object of getting to the convent of 
Mount Saba, on the road from the Dead Sea to the 
Jordan, which it was important for us to accomplish 
on the following night, without giving up our visit to 
that part of the Dead Sea which we were most anxious 
to reach. 

The governor, indeed, seemed to take our haste, albeit 

u 2 



292 



TRAVELS EN EGYPT AXD STEIA. 



an unknown attribute of humanity in the East, in very 
good part, and the wounded man was once more begin- 
ning his tale, when those of our party who had been 
encamped without the town, and did not hear of the 
scuffle very soon after it occurred, suddenly appeared. 
On hearing where we had gone, they had hastened to 
follow us, and with the more speed since one of them 
had an mtroductory letter from the Pasha of Jerusalem 
to the chief who was so handsomely, or artfully, enter- 
taining us ; and his arrival afforded an occasion for a 
new diversion of the serious business that had brought 
us to the court. 

After perusing the letter, the governor rose to receive 
his new guests, and after pressing his hand to his breast 
much more urgently than is usual when an ordinary 
salaam is given, he bowed his head, and made a sign, 
which adds the expression of great respect and devotion 
to your service, by placing his broad hand flat upon his 
turban. But not even content with these expressions of 
his feelings, he rose and insisted upon the gentleman who 
brought the letter taking the place which he had himself 
occupied, and with such perseverance, that it was impossible 
for our fellow-traveller to refuse this. Another chair was 
then brought, and he took his own seat upon his guest's 
right hand ; and when both were seated, he demanded of. 
the gentleman whom he thus honoured whether he was 
acquainted with the particulars of the affair which was 
the cause of so many Europeans appearing before him ; 
and being answered that a vague report only of the facts 
had reached his ear, the process was ordered to be pro- 
ceeded with. This did not, however, take place before a 
repetition of the former delays, by the sendee of sherbet, 
tcheboohs, and coffee to those who had last entered, so 
that the time ran on until we had probably been two 



HEBKON. 



293 



hours in the Mussulman court before the complainant 
had fairly begun his story. This was now, however, told 
in as few words as possible, at our desire, accompanied 
by an account of our former difference with the sheykh 
of Dacchareer. 

As soon as the governor had been thus informed of all 
that could be said of the matter on our side, we demanded 
that the culprit might be sought for, and brought before 
him, that we might see justice done to our dragoman, 
as well as to ourselves, before we quitted the town ; and 
to all appearance our wishes seemed to be attended to, 
and the order given to arrest the man, who could not 
conceal himself in Hebron nor easily quit it. We, how- 
ever, sat out another full half-hour as composedly as 
it was possible under the circumstances for English tra- 
vellers to do, and more especially when one or two of 
the party were under the necessity of reaching Jerusalem 
on a certain fixed day. And, upon again urging the 
governor to make as speedy an end to the affair as pos- 
sible, his excellency seemed to enter more fully into our 
feelings, and rising from his seat he declared his intention 
of leaving the court to aid in discovering the culprit, 
whom he would have brought immediately before his 
accusers ; and as we had no opposition to offer to any- 
thing that seemed likely to curtail our delay, we rose and 
gave him the salaam as he retired attended by about half- 
a-dozen of the armed attendants upon the court. 

But the seeming polite chief had no sooner retired, 
than a new light was thrown upon the position in which 
the case stood between the complainants and the assail- 
ants. For we now learned from some of the parties in 
the court, who were more honest than, in a worldly sense, 
was prudent, that the sheykh of Dacchareer was really 
the man that had wounded our dragoman, and that he 



294 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



was a near relative of the judge between us. And being 
thus convinced that there were no further hopes of justice 
here, we determined, in the simplicity of our European 
ideas, to refer the matter to the Pasha of Jerusalem, and 
despatched messengers to recall the Mussulman judge, 
that we might inform him of our intentions. 

His excellency soon arrived, and informed us that he 
could learn nothing of the defendant ; upon which we 
communicated to him the step we had resolved upon, 
accompanied with the repetition of what we had before 
said, concerning the necessity of our speedy departure 
for the accomplishment of the objects of our travels. 

The governor, now commending our patience, re- 
quested, with strong promises of performing what he 
was ready to undertake, that if we would leave the 
matter in his hands, the whole of the parties concerned 
on the other side should, as soon as they were found, be 
severely bastinadoed. But when we declined his further 
assistance in the matter, he desired that we would have 
one moment's further patience while he retired again to 
ascertain whether anything had yet been heard of the 
chief criminal, adding, that should he be found he would 
order him to be given as many strokes of the bastinado 
as we might desire. But while we considered of the 
answer that should be given to his proposition, he again 
withdrew ; and after he had left the hall, a few minutes' 
further reflection induced us to despatch a messenger to 
inform him that we should leave without waiting to see 
him, if he did not return immediately. 

Only a few minutes now elapsed, when we were sur- 
prised by the entrance of the mufti, or chief priest of the 
Mussulmans, with a Jewish rabbi and about half-a-dozen 
more of the elder men of the Hebrew faith, including 
those with whom we had become already acquainted. 



HEBR0X. 



295 



They all entered out of breath, and after they had 
mounted the steps which led to the raised floor, a scene 
followed so astounding and opposite to European ideas of 
halls of justice, that, had I witnessed it alone, I should 
not have ventured to give any account of it, without many 
words and a prosy appeal to the reader's sympathies for the 
depressed race, who have for so many centuries drunk of 
the bitter waters of oppression. These worthy men were 
no sooner upon the raised ground than they fell upon 
their knees at our feet, with their faces towards the earth. 
They knocked their foreheads against the ground, they 
kissed our feet, pressed their hands together, and uttered 
short and fervent ejaculations in Arabic, while all the 
time we remained too much astounded with the incom- 
prehensible character of the scene to know what step 
to take. It was, however, apparent that such was the 
anxiety of the governor— which we did not so much 
wonder at, since we had heard who was the chief party 
among the criminals — that he had descended from his 
Mussulman dignity and actually sent for the Israelites, 
who, as our friends, he trusted would easily compromise 
the matter without a reference to the Pasha at Jerusalem. 
But we weighed the consequences of sacrificing the cha- 
racter of Englishmen, and we informed the worthy Israel- 
ites that we knew why the governor had become so 
desirous of compromising the matter, and it had fully 
confirmed us in our resolution of referring the whole 
affair to the Pasha at Jerusalem. We explained to them 
the chief causes of our resolution. We had come, we 
said, from a country where respect of persons had no 
influence upon the course of justice, which was dealt 
equally to men of all countries, of all religions, and in 
all stations or ranks of life, and we had brought abroad 
our national feelings, which taught us to make common 



206 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AXB SYEIA. 



interest in any case of insult made upon one of us. or 
upon the person of one of our attendants, whose case we 
were bound to make our own ; and. finally, we thanked 
them and offered our hands, to certify that we felt no 
disposition to blame them for the part they had doubtless 
been constrained to take. But all this only begat more 
fervent and importunate petitioning, for their sakes, to 
pardon the man who had committed the offence, or leave 
the governor free to punish him as he judged best after 
our departure. 

This drove us beyond all patience, and we rose to 
depart ; but. before we could separate ourselves from 
the Israelites, the governor, who had no doubt been 
all the time close at hand and acquainted with what 
was passing, re-entered, and politely requested us to 
take our seats again upon the mat But we had fully 
determined what course we would take ; and, not to be 
put aside from our purpose, we signified our intention to 
depart immediately. We had no time, we said, to waste 
more words upon the matter, for no power could now 
turn us from our purpose. 

We then again offered our hands to the Israelites, who 
were now in a state of excitement, such as we could not 
have expected to find men under oppression capable. 
The governor then requested us to allow him time 
to speak a few words to our Israelite friends apart, 
before we departed. We, of course, consented to this, 
and these worthy people all gathered around him ; and 
after a few minutes the rabbi turned to our dragoman, 
and with the utmost confidence desired him to commu- 
nicate to us that, such was the governor's wish to part 
with us good friends, that he had made up Ins mind, 
upon the settlement of this matter with himself, to throw 
open the sacred edifice which contained the tombs of 



HEBRON. 



297 



the patriarchs — to admit us to see what I believe only 
one European, which was Burckhardt, had then ever 
been admitted to view, and he entered in the character 
of a Mussulman, if not of an Arab. This offer was, 
however, in vain, and after bowing, and precipitately 
quitting the court, we mounted our beasts and continued 
on our journey towards the Dead Sea. But before 
proceeding with the account of our further travels, 
it may be better to mention the result of our endea- 
vours to obtain justice at Jerusalem for our treatment at 
Hebron. 

Two days after we left Hebron, the Englishman whose 
dragoman had received the wound wrote a letter from 
the convent of St. Saba to our consul at Jerusalem. 
The consul immediately applied to the Pasha, who des- 
patched a troop of horse to demand the culprit at the 
hands of the Pasha of Hebron, to which, as we were 
informed by our consul after our return, he received 
the following reply : that there had indeed been an 
armed party of foreigners there a few days since, who 
pretended some grievance on account of a wound one 
of their servants had received in a scuffle with some 
of the inhabitants of the town, but that their domestic 
had been in the wrong, and that there was no especial 
person known who could have given the wound ; that 
he had indeed yielded to the demand of the foreigners 
to punish the parties belonging to the town that had 
been engaged in the scuffle, but that this had been only 
on account of the strangers coming precipitately upon 
him, and his misunderstanding the character of what had 
taken place. 

This was what our consul informed us on our arrival 
at Jerusalem, accompanied with his regret that we had 
not been able to make some honourable compromise, for 



298 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



in truth the Pasha at Jerusalem had at all times a very 
little control over the governor of Hebron, and he was 
fearful that he would not be able to get the man given 
up, or any other steps taken to make the example which 
it was our wish should be made. The self-humiliation, 
therefore, and the propositions of the governor remained 
to us a mystery, which could only be solved by our 
belief of what was reported to us at Hebron — that there 
were obligations at the time between the two Pashas, 
which made the governor of Hebron ready to do any- 
thing to avoid a misunderstanding, save the sacrifice of 
one we now found to be even his brother. 



299 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

JOURNEY TO THE DEAD SEA. 

Rocky Mountains — Marks of Convulsions of Nature — Encamp for the Night 
— Views from the Hills — Descents towards the Sea — Bathing — Water 
very cold and buoyant — Road to the Convent of St. Saba — Alarm of the 
Monks — Our Admission. 

Upon leaving Hebron we took a direction nearly east 
of the city, and we had no sooner passed over a first 
range of hills than we found no further signs of vegeta- 
tion, while the rocks and cliffs exhibited the varied shades 
for which the different strata and the action of the rains 
that fall here at certain seasons of the year seemed to be 
the chief causes. 

We next ascended a range of rocky mountains, at the 
highest pinnacle of which we came upon a miserable clus : 
ter of huts, which we learned were occupied by some 
mountaineers keeping small flocks of goats, which found 
scanty subsistence in the valleys along the edges of the 
water-courses that run through some of the narrow 
ravines and are inaccessible to other animals. 

The reader is well acquainted with the account of the 
destruction of the two cities on the shores of the Dead 
Sea, which is related in the book of Genesis. We were 
now upon the mountains that are spoken of in that 
account of this memorable event, and it may be here re- 
marked that there is at this time in this vicinity nothing 
4 growing upon the earth,' so that the same name which 
is given to the unfrequented sea, where neither birds nor 



300 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



fish seem to flourish, might be with equal justice given to 
the unfruitful country around. There are, indeed, evi- 
dent marks of violent convulsions of nature, which, with 
the salts, bitumen and other elements of underground 
ebullition which are here found, leave room for the sup- 
position that where there may at one time have been a 
fruitful country, there are now only rugged and barren 
hills ; that where there may once have been cultivation, 
there is now nothing but unfruitful wastes and confirmed 
sterility. The view, however, from this mountain to- 
wards the remarkable sea is inconceivably grand. The 
sea itself is plainly seen, as a great lake among- the 
mountains, which seem to yawn frightfully on either side, 
as if ready to swallow up the waters which they enclose. 

As we now gradually descended a path which led us 
by an oblique course towards the west, we found the day 
too fast drawing to a close to leave any hope of our 
reaching the coast of the Dead Sea that evening, and we 
turned aside from our proper path, in order to pitch our 
tents in a wady which the guides thought the most con- 
venient for our purpose ; but we did not reach this before 
it was full night, and there was no moon. Moreover, as 
the ground was stony, and too hard to obtain a proper 
hold for our coverings, we had to pitch the tents under 
more uncomfortable circumstances than are commonly 
experienced in the desert. We slept, however, undis- 
turbed by this inconvenience, and some time before 
the day broke we prepared to renew our journey, deter- 
mined, if possible, after visiting the Dead Sea, to arrive 
at the convent of St. Saba, which lies between the country 
over which we were now passing and the plains of Jericho, 
before the close of the day. 

We had been descending by precipitous, rugged, and 
winding paths, from the time we >saw the distant prospect 



JOURNEY TO THE DEAD SEA. 



301 



before us, about two hours and a half after leaving He- 
bron, but we were still upon elevated ground, and a circu- 
lar route by the north now brought us to the level of 
the sea-range of high lands. It was, therefore, yet early in 
the day when we halted the caravan at a ridge that fairly 
overlooked the whole of the sea with its precipitous and 
sterile shores, as well as the more distant plain of the 
River Jordan, and the wooded and narrow line of country 
through which that river flows. But the opposite coasts 
of the Dead Sea, from this nearer vicinity, did not present 
the same appearance that we had before observed, of an 
immense wall set up by nature to prohibit intercourse 
between the inhabitants on the opposite sides. Here the 
shades which mark the relative distances of the sterile 
hills from each other were sufficiently plain to enable us 
to distinguish the farther from the nearer, and they 
marked out a vast space of country of the same barren 
character, differing only from the scenes in the great desert 
by the magnitude of the hills and the greater variety of 
the forms of those which the eye may compass at the 
same glance. The scenery, indeed, on all sides was more 
grand than anything we had yet seen, save the view from 
Mount Sinai, during the whole course of our journey. 

When we had sufficiently satisfied our increased inte- 
rest in desert scenery, we began, still mounted, to descend 
towards the shores of the sea, and we soon commenced 
a path which was difficult to follow. The way was 
winding and over sandstone rock, which soon led to a 
granite precipice, through which a pathway had been 
made, but so rude that no horses but such as those which 
we rode could be capable of descending. But what the 
horses of any other country would shun, the docile and 
patient animals of these deserts unhesitatingly attempt 
and accomplish. 



302 



TRAVELS W EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



We dismounted, however, as soon as we encountered 
these difficulties, and, by the advice of our guides, walked 
behind our horses, which, with instinctive intelligence, 
avoided keeping too near to each other. Sometimes they 
had the choice of jumping over deep clefts in the rock, 
or of risking the entanglement of their feet in a stony 
rough path, and it was agreeable to observe the different 
choices which they made, which were no doubt guided 
by the character of the districts through which they had 
severally been accustomed to travel. Sometimes again it 
was necessary for them to put their feet together while 
they slid down the smooth surface of the way from one 
notch or step, made in some remote time, to another. 

By this path, however, we at length came to a small 
level space of ground about one-fourth from the bottom 
of the steep, and which is called El-Geclion. Here there 
is a spring, which had been the chief reason for making 
our horses descend, with several trees and a number of 
shrubs, forming amidst the gloomy wastes that surround 
them an agreeable relief. We had no intention of taking 
our horses farther, so that after they had well drunken, 
we tied them to the trees, and commenced the descent 
of the remainder of the declivity without them. 

We found the way, after reaching the foot of the hills, 
composed of a sandy and gravelly soil, over half a mile 
of level ground which we had still to pass before reaching 
the shore of the great sea. While crossing this space 
our attention was more especially excited by the impres- 
sion that we were passing over the very site of one of the 
ancient cities that were consumed by fire. We found 
along the shore a great deal of bitumen, which the natives, 
it may be easily imagined, suppose to indicate the site of 
the awful conflagration related in the Bible. 

When we reached the beach we bathed in the sea, and 



JOURXEY TO THE DEAD SEA. 



303 



we did not fail to try the buoyancy of the water, of which 
much has been said, and I can add one testimony more to 
those already given of this remarkable quality. It ap- 
peared to us, however, less buoyant than some travellers 
have reported, for, though it requires no exertion to float, 
the swimmer will not while treading water, if I may use 
these familiar terms, have more than the top of the 
shoulders above the surface of the briny element ; and the 
component parts of the water, which have been often 
found by analysation to be more salt than other seas, will 
easily account for this phenomenon of its buoyancy. 

When we had satisfied our curiosity concerning the 
water of this sea, we recrossed the flat strip of land, 
keeping a little towards the right of the path by which 
we had descended from the hills, in order to enter a cave 
which is said to be that in which Saul, when in search of 
David, entered, and where David with his companions 
was concealed, when he refused to slay the Lord's 
anointed, although Said was his enemy and in search of 
his life. 

Near the mouth of the cave there is a little plot of 
earth about 100 ft. or 200 ft, square, upon which water- 
melons were growing, and by the side of which, as we 
came out of the cave, two Bedouins, who seemed to be 
quite of the wild grade, were standing. There were, 
however, too many of us, and Ave were too well prepared, 
to invite an attack from two rogues, and our interpreters 
could only suppose from something they seemed to say, 
that they disapproved of our presence in their part of the 
country. We observed, however, that they were extremely 
fine athletic men, and our guides informed us that the tribe 
which kept the western coasts of the sea in the vicinity of 
Engiddy were considered a giant race by the tribes in 



304 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



the lower parts of Judaea and the inhabitants of the 
towns. 

We now proceeded to the path by which we had 
descended, and returned to the little plot of ground where 
we had left our horses, from which we climbed, generally 
mounted, with greater ease than we had descended. 

At the top of the ridge we made no further delay than 
was necessary to take a hasty repast. We then mounted 
our horses again, and took the path leading to the convent 
of St. Saba, but with some doubts whether we should 
even reach it that night. The road was like the last, such 
as we thought no horses except those bred in so rude a 
country could have travelled, and we did not come to the 
mountain defile which conducts to the convent before 
the light afforded by such of the bright stars as were not 
hidden from our view by the precipitous and lofty sides 
of the pass was all upon which we had to depend. Along 
this defile we followed our guides, sometimes through a 
dry watercourse, and at other times amidst rough rocks 
and rude stones, until we arrived immediately beneath the 
cloud-capped walls of the convent, about two hours after 
nightfall. Here, however, our difficulties to all appear- 
ance seemed only increasing, for it was impossible to 
surmise how we could ever reach the height Upon which 
the convent stood, unless by some circuitous and long 
route, and we had already been sixteen hours on the 
backs of our horses, not one of which had had any- 
thing like a meal since we left Hebron on the preceding 
day. Our guides, however, put us upon a path which, 
though the steepest we had yet seen, was formed by 
gravel and mould, and the horses having here a fair 
footing, mounted with agility which we could scarcely 
have expected at the beginning of a journey after high 
feeding and rest. 



JOURNEY TO THE DEAD SEA. 



305 



As we approached the convent we perceived a great 
movement among the monks within, apparent from the 
motion of the lights from room to room and along the 
terraces, but all seemed to have been extinguished 
when we came near the building. When we had nearly 
attained the level of the gates on the opposite side of 
the ravine by which the convent stands, we passed a 
tower which is used for the reception of any of the fair 
sex who may chance to accompany their male friends 
thus far towards the convent, the monks not thinking it 
accordant with the morals they enjoin, to admit the ladies 
any nearer to their hallowed precincts. 

Leaving this tower on the left, we attained the bridge 
which crosses the ravine and conducts directly to the 
gate of the convent. But here we were requested by our 
guides to remain until one of themselves went forward 
to reassure the monks by the delivery of a letter which 
we brought from the superior of the convent at Jeru- 
salem. There was, notwithstanding, a long parley before 
the end was accomplished, for the monks, believing that 
none but robbers upon a desperate adventure would 
thread their ravine after dark, so soon as they heard 
the noise of our horses' feet trampling upon the path- 
way on the opposite side of the ravine, felt assured that 
they were on the point of being attacked by some means 
or other ; those who had gone to bed arose, and all 
lights were extinguished save such as lit up the altar 
of their chapel, to which they had hastened, it might 
even seem, to celebrate, their last mass with the usage of 
the vessels of gold and silver which adorn their altar. 

When, however, the unfounded fears of the poor monks 
were subdued, the gates of the convent were opened, 
and we received a welcome which made amends for the 
delay. We were now led through narrow passes, and 

x 



306 



TRAVELS W EGYPT AND STEIA. 



up stone staircases, until we attained the grand terrace 
of the convent, from which we entered a large apart- 
ment, with divans on all sides, and an ample table, chairs, 
and other luxuries of the east and west united, to 
welcome strangers from far or near. 

The monks first brought us a supply of wine of very 
fair quality, and some bread, with which we refreshed 
ourselves while a more substantial supper was preparing ; 
and, when this was served, about half a dozen of them 
waited upon us, and after having been entertained with 
an account of the various terrors which they had suf- 
fered, we laid down upon the divans around the room for 
the night. 



307 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CONVENT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JOED AN. 

Relics of Monks Murdered — Muleteers' Terrors of the Bedouins— Eoad to- 
wards the Jordan — The Remarkable River — Caution of the Arabs — 
Bathe in the Jordan — The Fountain of Elisha — Adventure of one of the 
Horses — The Robbery committed by the Bedouins. 

On the morning after our arrival at the convent of St. 
Saba, the good monks conducted us to their principal 
chapel, which was richly adorned with presents, many of 
which were given by the Emperor of Eussia. Among 
the latter there were several large and splendid chan- 
deliers, and many paintings set in superb gilt frames, in- 
cluding one which represented the massacre of the brothers 
of the convent. After this they led us to inspect the 
sacred relics which they possess of their predecessors, 
consisting of skulls, fifteen hundred in number ; but as it 
was not our intention to spend the day at the convent, 
we began to prepare for our departure at an early hour, 
when we were astonished to find that neither our horses 
nor our mules had had more during the night than a few 
oats we brought with us, and they were about to enter 
upon a third day's journey without a proper supply of 
food. The monks, we were now informed, were ac- 
customed to provide refreshment for travellers, but they 
always left it to their visitors to bring a sufficiency of 
food for their beasts, which neither our servants nor our 
muleteers appeared to have known, 

x 2 



308 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Such was now the terror that some of our muleteers 
entertained of the Bedouins in the vicinity of the Jordan, 
where the mass of the pilgrims, as before mentioned, are 
guarded by Turkish soldiers, that they would not accom- 
pany us any further ; and, leaving then" mules and one 
old man to drive them, they set off on foot for Jerusalem, 
from which we were not now above three hours' march. 
This proceeding, to which we were forced to submit, 
caused us some delay, during which our unfortunate 
beasts ate up every particle of the manure which was 
lying about the stable doors. In the meantime, it was 
insisted upon by our chief dragoman that the beasts 
should not be permitted to drink, on account of the 
length of time they had almost completely fasted. 

About two hours before mid-day we took leave of the 
monks, and left the convent by a road which passed 
along the side of the mountain, and was by far the best 
we had yet seen in J udsea. By this route, which took 
a somewhat circuitous course, a complete descent into a 
lower valley was avoided ; and as soon as we had ad- 
vanced beyond the country which is between the moun- 
tainous rari^e of St. Saba and that which borders the 
northern arm of the Dead Sea, we ascended continuously 
for two hours, when we reached a summit from which we 
obtained one of the most extensive views to be seen 
throughout Palestine. We here again overlooked the sea, 
and, on the opposite side of the Jordan, viewed the 
mountains, from one of which Moses beheld the pro- 
mised land, upon which it was destined that he should 
never place his feet. Immediately beneath us we could 
plainly distinguish two enormous steps in the natural 
scene, both equally sterile and abounding in lesser hills 
and vales. But as we descended towards the country 
before us, it was only on the confines of each broad step 



CONTEXT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JORDAN. 309 

of the way that this great feature of the country could be 
perceived, since neither hill nor vale exhibited any kind 
of vegetation that might have aided in showing their 
varied forms. 

As we approached the lower plains, we first passed one 
of those ancient tombs which are so common in the 
country, but which has this refreshing relief, that it is 
reported to be that of one of the servants of Moses ; and 
soon afterwards we passed another tomb enclosed within 
a building that resembles a fort, and which the Arabs 
believe to be that of Moses himself, or report this for the 
purpose of gratifying such of the Israelites and Christians 
as they may believe to be unacquainted with what is 
well known to all who have any knowledge of the Holy 
Scriptures. 

We dismounted here, and some Arabs that happened 
to pass by on horseback gave us an account of the 
robbery of some of the pilgrims on the plains of the 
Jordan that we were approaching, which was a timely 
notice to us to examine our arms and put ourselves in 
the best condition of defence that we were able ; there 
is, indeed, no part of Palestine so much subject as these 
plains to the predatory attacks and depredations of the 
wild Bedouins which inhabit the opposite side of the 
Jordan. 

We now descended to the inclined plain, and took a 
direction across the pathless sand and gravel towards that 
part of the Jordan where the pilgrims bathe. From the 
time we commenced the passage of this waste of country 
the land sunk gradually as we advanced, and as we 
approached the river there was a considerable degree of 
wild vegetation ; but this did not interrupt our way, and 
we arrived at the banks of the Jordan about three hours 
after noon. 



310 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



The sight of this remarkable stream was at first dis- 
appointing. For myself, I had painted the famous river 
in my mind with a clear and gentle current running over 
an even bed through green and picturesque banks, but 
we found a muddy river about a stone's-throw, or little 
more, in breadth, running rapidly, yet without the gran- 
deur of water falling over rocky ground, while the shrubs 
and trees in some places near the spot at which we 
stopped, seemed almost to join their branches across the 
stream. Nevertheless, such is the force of association — 
even of what is moral with what is natural — of memor- 
able events with the site of their performance — that, 
when we contemplated what had passed, perhaps on the 
very spot where we stood, we seemed to partake of the 
same feelings and the same admiration of the river which 
so strongly excite the numerous pilgrims who come an- 
nually to bathe in its waters. 

We had no sooner halted the caravan, than some of 
the Arabs who accompanied us placed themselves upon 
the numerous neighbouring heights, that they might dis- 
cover any party of the Bedouins approaching to pass the 
river from the opposite side ; while others concealed 
themselves among the reeds above and below the spot 
which we occupied, to give the earliest notice of the 
approach of any party that might be concealed on this 
side the water. 

We, of course, all bathed in the Jordan ; and I must 
here mention a little act of folly of my own, which, 
were the risk of life which it occasioned well known 
among the European pilgrims, might save some lives that 
are occasionally lost in this attractive river. The stream, 
at about a hundred yards above the spot where we 
bathed, was interrupted in its course by a turn, which 
produced a line of whirlpools, commencing near the bank 



CONVENT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JORDAN. 311 



on our side, and passing nearly to the opposite bank at 
about two hundred yards below the place where we were 
bathing ; so that on this side of the whirlpools the 
water was at rest, or ran very slowly, while on the oppo- 
site side the stream was extremely rapid ; and it happened 
that, after swimming upwards, I crossed the whirlpools in 
order to come more quickly clown, but I found upon 
coming opposite the place where my associates were 
bathing, that with my utmost efforts, I could not recross 
the whirlpools ; being much exhausted I caUed for a 
rope, knowing we had plenty that bound the luggage on 
the mules ; but before this doubtful relief could be pro- 
cured, my efforts were successful, and I afterwards easily 
reached the shore. 

From the Jordan we directed our horses' heads towards 
the ruins on the site of Jericho, which lie between the 
river and the upland, and which we passed by without 
making any stay ; and soon after this we came upon an 
encampment of Bedouins on the best terms with our 
guides, who recommended us, nevertheless, not to remain 
any time near them. 

We next came to a spring called the fountain of Elisha, 
and which is said to be that which the Scriptures inform 
us was turned from bitter to sweet by that prophet. It 
is upon the side of the hills which form the boundary of 
the sterile plain, and about a quarter of a mile from what 
is called the Mountain of the Temptation, from its being 
supposed to be that where the Messiah sojourned when 
led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 

This fountain is composed of a bubbling spring, which 
flows from a rock at the base of a hill, and forms a 
beautiful object in the thirsty wilderness. A cistern or 
reservoir of unhewn stone had been formed of about 
twenty yards by fifteen in dimensions, and at the head of 



312 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



this the spring appeared issuing from among wild flowers 
and shrubs, as clear to the sight as it was refreshing and 
delicious to the taste. From this point the water forms 
a stream of about three paces in breadth ; and on the 
banks of its course, as it runs over the surface of the 
sandy ground for some distance, flourish the evergreen 
trees of the clime, until the precious element is drunk up 
by the thirsty soil, and totally disappears. We encamped 
for this night near the fountain. 

About an hour after sunrise on the following morning 
we sent off our loaded mules by the usual road to Jerusalem, 
and entered a broad ravine south of the mountain called 
that of the Temptation, in order to return to the holy 
city by a route very little known. For an hour or two 
we followed the tracks of the goats and other animals 
that the inhabitants of the desert maintain, making some- 
times the circuit of the hills, and sometimes threading 
the deep rocky and pathless ravines, until we came to the 
Wady or valley kilt, where we found a rapid brook, 
which appeared to be near its source, and which we were 
informed was one of the several streams that find their 
way from the mountains to unite with the Jordan above 
the place where we had bathed. 

Here we dismounted, and some of the Arabs climbed 
to the summit of the highest rocks around, to look out 
again for any Bedouins that might be tracking us, and 
we followed the rivulet along banks which appeared 
to have been formerly cultivated, and were still not 
wholly without vegetation ; and here we noticed some 
large petrified stumps of trees, which were lying above 
the ground. Then continuing to mount the stream, we 
came to an ancient aqueduct, which it seemed probable 
once conducted these waters either to Jericho, or to one 



CONVENT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JORDAN. 313 



of the other cities of which there are remains in the 
plains of the Jordan. 

The defile in the rocks through which we were passing 
grew narrower as we advanced, until we came to a pas- 
sage which looked like a cleft rent by an earthquake ; 
and fifty or sixty yards above this we appeared to find 
the pure source of the stream. 

From the bare side of a rock on the right of the 
stream I made a copy of the following characters, which 
are there engraven, as they did not seem to me to re- 
semble any others I had seen either in Egypt or Pales- 
tine, while their situation, and the nicety with which 
they were engraven, appeared to indicate that they were 
not mere marks without significant meaning. They were 
placed in the order thus copied : 

<?V# 7 tf (4 "> 

We now returned to remount our horses, and the 
Arabs who had ascended the high rocks to look out for 
the approach of enemies having descended, we took our 
way more towards the west. 

On our road by the difficult passes we here encoun- 
tered, we had the opportunity of witnessing a wonderful 
instance of sagacity and courage on the part of one of 
our horses, which I cannot omit to mention. We had 
divided into parties to search for the least precipitous 
and rocky way to descend into a deep ravine that ran 
beneath the hill over which we were passing, when one 
of our party, believing that he had discovered the least 
difficult way, dismounted, and, followed by his horse, 
began to descend, and the rest presently followed him on 
foot with their horses behind them. 



314 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



The way was a succession of rough, crazy steps and 
slopes of gravel and loose stones ; and while we scrambled 
successively from the higher step to that below it, our 
leader's horse, after following his master for some time, 
turned in another direction, and walked on without for 
a moment betraying fear or hesitation. The sagacious 
creature, seeming rather to mistrust his master than to 
fear, followed the course of a narrow step or ledge along 
the side of the rocks, with a perfect wall on one side and 
a steep gravelly slope on the other, which did not come up 
to within one or two hundred feet of his path ; and as we 
soon perceived, that by reason of the narrowness of the 
way he had passed beyond the point at which he might 
have turned, we gave the poor beast up for lost. Yet he 
might remain there for an indefinite time ; and one of our 
party suggested that we might by-and-by return with 
sufficient ropes, and by following him and getting a rope 
round his body, sling him over the cliff ; and another pro- 
posed that we should shoot the poor beast to recover the 
mere trappings that were about him. But almost before 
these suggestions could be discussed, the horse jumped to 
the pointed summit of the gravelled slope beneath him, 
and alighting upon his four feet, at once slid sideways 
down the steep, maintaining all the time his erect posture, 
and carrying stones and dust with him from the fearful 
height to which he had jumped, down to the bottom of 
the ravine ; so that even the Arabs, who had given him 
up for lost, when he appeared in front of the cavalcade, 
carelessly continuing his way without the slightest per- 
turbation, expressed their astonishment at the courage as 
well as sagacity of the heroic animal. 

As we now ascended between two hills, when about a 
hundred yards from the brook that was running between 
them, we passed under the archway of a bridge which 



CONVENT OF MOUNT SABA AND THE JORDAN. 315 

supported an aqueduct, the waters in which must have 
been conducted by a tunnel through the very centre of a 
hill, but the lateness of the hour did not permit us par- 
ticularly to examine the place. 

A short distance from this we came upon the proper 
route of the pilgrims towards the Jordan at this season, 
and we passed by the walls within which they encamp 
during the night which they pass on their way from 
Jerusalem and on their return. Here we found the road 
the best we had met with since we entered Palestine, and 
we trotted off towards Bethany, after passing which we 
reached the summit of the mount of Olives overlooking 
the holy city, from which we descended, and once more 
entered by the gate of St. Stephen, when the party that 
had travelled together from Egypt returned to our tents 
in the consul's garden on Mount Zion. 

On the morning after our return, we heard from a 
gentleman of our acquaintance an account of a robbery 
committed upon himself, in company with his servant, 
while on his way between Jerusalem and the Jordan. 
He had accompanied the hosts of pilgrims, and pitched 
his tent without their encampment, which was guarded 
by a force of Turkish soldiers, who marched with the 
pilgrims during the day. But in the morning, while 
loitering a little behind the protected party, himself and 
his servant were thrown from their horses by a party of 
Bedouins, and he had a spear at his breast before he even 
saw his enemies, and was not only now robbed of forty 
sovereigns or Kapoleons, which he had concealed in a 
belt that was passed round his waist, but was at the 
same time reduced with his servant to a state of perfect 
nudity, in which condition they had both to walk for 
some miles in the burning sun before they reached any 
human habitation. 



316 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



There was, nevertheless, one little act performed by 
these Bedouin desperadoes, after they had committed 
this robbery, bearing at least some relation to Christian 
charity, for which they ought to be praised. Coats and 
shirts and shoes and stockings are not very important for 
comfort when the scorching sun has hardly yet risen, and 
the want of these may be endured even after the bright 
globe has attained his utmost altitude ; but woe to the 
traveller who should pass between Jerusalem and the 
Jordan without some covering to shade his brain from 
the great orb's mid-day beams ! Thus the reader will, I 
hope, agree with the writer concerning the merits of the 
Bedouin robbers, when he is told that before they left 
their Christian victims, they threw them both their well- 
worn felt hats, which saved them from the serious, and 
perhaps fatal, coup de soleil, they might otherwise have 
suffered. 



317 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 

BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 

Christian Women on the Eoad — View of Bethlehem — The Descent to the 
supposed Place of the Nativity — A Fancy Artist — The Pools of Solomon 
— Adventure with a Negro— My Companions' Departure. 

As it has been found convenient throughout this nar- 
rative to preserve the ordinary course of a journal, I 
have not yet made any mention of the birthplace of Him 
before whose altar the Christian world bend the knee 
and worship, and through whom all hope for forgiveness 
of their errors or the recompense of their faith and their 
good works. I now, therefore, proceed to speak of 
Bethlehem with the same freedom that I have used in 
speaking of the other holy places which I visited during my 
stay in Jerusalem. Those shrewd arguments which have 
been properly employed by many travellers to establish 
opinions they have given concerning important events, 
it has been before said, do not appear to me should be 
attempted by the mere tourist. The world has enough 
of argumentation and controversy, which are not always 
worthy of the talents displayed by the writers of them, 
nor the time spent by their readers. The Christian 
world is impressed with the belief of what is plainly 
written in the Gospel, that Christ was born in Bethlehem 
of Judasa, and that the site of this city at that time is no 
more to be doubted than the site of Jerusalem in the 
same age. The advantage that might be gained by the 



318 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



discovery of the precise spot of the earth whereon every 
event in the Christian history took place may engage the 
attention or meet the approval of those whose minds are 
bent upon examining the minute rather than the grand 
events which accompanied the perfect dispensation given 
to the world by the preaching of our Saviour ; but this 
does not seem important towards the end for which the 
Scriptures should be studied, and contributes nothing 
to the great end of Christianity — a belief in God, and the 
practice of the pure moral code of the historians of the 
life and actions of its divine author. 

I have already mentioned the passage of our party 
through Bethlehem upon the tour by the Dead Sea and 
the Jordan, when our haste did not permit our dis- 
mounting or making any particular inquiries and observa- 
tions. On our return to Jerusalem, we found that the 
greater portion of the pilgrims had quitted it for their 
homes. We now, therefore, obtained apartments in the 
Latin convent, and a few days after this one of our party 
and myself took a guide and rode over to see especially the 
site of the earliest events in the history of our religion. 

After about an hour's ride from J erusalem, we came to 
a well in the middle of the way, about which there are 
superstitious tales wholly too ridiculous to repeat. 
Around it were gathered a number of young women 
come from a neighbouring village to draw water. They 
were all Christians and unveiled, which is not the custom 
of the Christian women at Jerusalem. Some of them 
were gay and some were pretty. They smiled at our 
half European dresses, which could hardly have been 
new to them, and they were all ready to allow us to 
drink from their pitchers, which our guide informed us 
were their own, and no doubt all that they possessed save 
the ragged and spare dresses which they wore. 



BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 



319 



A well is always an object of interest in a mountainous 
or desert country. It is a place of resort where those 
who never meet on any other occasion have the oppor- 
tunity of interviews from which the manners of the 
country have cut them off at home. It is often here that 
the shepherd resorts to choose his mistress, and it is here 
that the traveller drinks freely from the pitcher of 
strangers when the severe manners or opposed religions 
of the parties forbid any exchange of charities else- 
where. The haughty and severe promoters of many 
superstitions that degrade humanity might here learn the 
principles of true religion, which must be in accordance 
with the natural feelings which spring from an uncor- 
rupted heart. But we took leave of the Christian damsels 
and proceeded on our way. 

You do not come in view of Bethlehem by this route 
until you reach within a mile of the city. From this 
it is seen to great advantage, seated upon the brow of a 
hill overlooking a deep valley towards the east and north- 
east, while at its south-eastern extremity stands the pro- 
portionally massive edifice of the convent of the Nativity, 
covering the supposed site of the stable where the child 
Jesus was born. 

We took a short circuit round the slope of the hill, and 
entered the town by the opposite side from that on which 
the convent is placed. There is but one passable street or 
way that leads through Bethlehem, which is now little 
more than a mere village. By this we proceeded directly 
to the Latin convent, amidst hovels of stone, with few 
exceptions, on either side, and by unpaved lanes and 
narrow passages leading to the higher and lower dwell- 
ings of its rude and sullen inhabitants. We did not 
meet a woman of any age, and the absence of the fair 
sex from the streets, a traveller will everywhere remark, 



320 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



indicates a low degree of civilisation in the people ; and 
if any eye were turned towards us, it was accompanied 
witli a significant scowl more resembling that which the 
poet places upon the brow of the prince of darkness 
when he beheld the first human pair, than that of one 
creature upon another creature of the same nature with 
himself. We remarked this to our guide, who was a 
Christian Arab, and he replied that we might not pass so 
securely through the midst of these savages, were not the 
troops of the Sultan in Jerusalem only a few horns' march 
from the place. 

We did not halt until we reached the convent, which 
stands beyond the dwellings of the proper inhabitants of 
the town. Our guide now dismounted and knocked at 
the principal entrance, when a side-door was opened by 
a porter, and we were immediately admitted. 

We had scarcely passed the vestibule of the Christian 
edifice, before we were kindly greeted by the hospitable 
monks, who day and night watch in this convent, and 
trust by their constant orisons to guard the holy place 
from violation, and the spare valuables of the church 
from a repetition of some former scenes of plunder and 
destruction. They immediately led us to the centre of the 
large church, to which the convent may be said to belong, 
rather than the church, as is more common, to the 
convent. 

The architecture of the building is of the Corinthian 
order, imperfect ; but the church has been disfigured by 
the change of the Christian bodies that have successively 
tenanted it. It was erected by the Latins, according to 
their usual plan, in the form of the cross ; but, being now 
partly in possession of the Greeks, who appear to have 
almost as great an abhorrence of the Latin cross as some 
of our extravagant preachers, have built up a wall which 



BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 



321 



cuts off a large portion of the aisle which represented 
the upright or main staff of the cross, and which was 
ornamented by a fine double row of Corinthian columns ; 
by this alteration they trust that they have made the 
church a worthy temple for human worship. 

We had expected to find the place of the Nativity 
pointed out to us either beneath the altar or in the middle 
of the church ; but the superior simplicity of everything 
around plainly indicated that there was nothing of more 
than ordinary sanctity in the body of the church. We 
therefore desired that we might be shown the very site 
of the stable, and the very spot, which we had heard was 
known, where the child Jesus was born. Upon this, one 
of the seculars was called, who brought in his hand a 
key almost as large, and in form very much resembling 
that which painters put into the hands of St. Peter as a 
symbol of the future and somewhat wearisome office as- 
signed to that apostle. 

We were now conducted to a narrow and dark stair- 
case, and accompanied by two priests, as well as by the 
bearer of the key, we descended by the light of candles, 
until we were fairly beneath the surface of the solid rock 
upon which the great edifice is placed. A door was then 
opened with the great key, and there immediately burst 
upon us a blaze of dazzling light, which sufficiently indi- 
cated that we were near the consecrated spot. 

When we entered the illuminated cavern, we looked 
around in search of some indications of the place having 
been the stable of an inn ; but we found nothing but 
narrow chambers or passages cut in the rock, that did 
not seem to us could at any time have been used as a 
stable for either horses or oxen. The walls were for the 
greater part covered with marble, and the two more 
sacred sites which are shown as the very spots where the 

Y 



322 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT A1N T D SYRIA. 



child Jesus was born, and laid in a manger, were well 
lighted, and adorned with a show of sparkling silver and 
gold that was almost too dazzling to look upon. 

On the spot where it is said the infant first drew 
natural breath there is also a small altar, after the 
Greek style, for the celebration of mass, and a silver star 
indicates the place where the manger stood in which the 
child was first laid. 

Such are the significant symbols of the humble birth 
of Him whose life was spent in teaching that purity of 
heart, with the practice of the charities which He en- 
joined, were the proofs of our comprehension of our 
true relations to the Creator, and the fulfilment of all 
essential religious duties. The simple but pious monks, 
when they had pointed out these spots, fell upon their 
knees, crossed themselves, and uttered a short prayer, 
after which they rose to resume their office of cicerones. 

We were next conducted to the terrace upon the roof 
of the convent, from which there is a view of the exten- 
sive vale towards the east, and the mountainous country 
lying between Jerusalem and the plains of Jericho. From 
this the monks pointed out to us the waste ground on the 
slope of the opposite hills, which, according to tradition, 
is the place where the shepherds watched their flocks 
when the angel appeared to proclaim the birth of the 
Saviour, and where the heavenly host proclaimed the 
glory of God, and peace and goodwill towards men. 

As we looked upon the untillecl and rude slopes of the 
hills, we could see flocks of sheep feeding upon the spare 
natural vegetation which the land at this time seemed to 
produce, while several shepherds, with their dogs, were 
keeping guard ; and as St. Luke, who alone of the Evan- 
gelists mentions this vision, expressly says that it was in 
the same country as the nativity, it might seem to be 



BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 



323 



too nicely scrupulous to reject a tradition so agreeable 
to our associations. 

On the right hand, upon the side of the same hill on 
which the convent stands, the monks pointed out to us a 
grotto or cavern in the rock, which, upon the same au- 
thority, they informed us was the refuge of many of the 
hapless mothers, with their infants, after the slaughter of 
the innocents had commenced in Bethlehem, and where 
many of them wept over the mangled remains of their 
murdered offspring, when the fiend-like executors of the 
tyrant's will had accomplished their prince's hellish pur- 
pose. Then turning to the left, they pointed out to us 
a village built upon the slope of a hill, and in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the town, which they informed us 
was the site of the chief palace of King David, out of 
Jerusalem. 

There are but few Christians at Bethlehem ; but these 
are among the most industrious of the population. We 
visited but one of their humble dwellings, which was 
tenanted by a fancy artist, who was employed in carving 
devices upon shells which are brought from the Eed Sea. 
We were much pleased with this diligent workman, and 
we both ordered some specimens of his art, of which he 
had nothing at present ready, and I received a note from 
him while at Jerusalem, some days afterwards, that seemed 
to me so characteristic of the writer and the place, that I 
here place an exact copy of it : — 

< Lustriss mo Sing e , 
4 Ho preso Fardire a farla queste due riche afhne Di 
riverirla, e salutarla con tutto il cuore ; en pun to Delle 
conchilie che me ordinate La vostra Singnioria ni portaro 
La Domenica per la matina, e si poso venire el sabato, 
vero costi ; e si vostra sing pensa di partite avanti di 



324 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



8 giorni, me visara oggi, quando sara la vostra partensa, 
el alora vi mandiro quelle che sono terminate : ed intanto 
vi saluto caramente ; La riveriseo, me dico, 
4 Di vostro Singnioria 

4 Dino um mo obb mo servo, 

4 Dominico Michel. 

1 Beteleme, Magio 7.' 

From Bethlehem we took the road towards the south- 
east of the town, in order to visit the Pools of Solomon, 
and the gardens that bear that voluptuous prince's name. 
We found the road, which is but a path lying between 
precipices and between rent cliffs, or over rocks rolled 
one upon another, the most difficult that we had at any 
time passed, save that near En-gedi by which we de- 
scended from the higher lands to the Dead Sea, But 
about half an hour before we came to the pools we 
entered a valley where the landscape was more beautiful 
than anything we had before seen in Judaea. Thus, if 
the conjectures of some of the visitors to Palestine be 
founded in truth — that the soil has been washed from the 
higher lands in most parts of the country to a degree to 
make a great portion of the territory formerly fertile now 
barren — there cannot be a doubt of even the higher lands 
in this vicinity, which are now sterile, having been once 
productive of what is essential to maintain a considerable 
population. Wheat and barley were here growing for 
more than a mile along the vale, and the olive-trees, 
though scarce, were generally finer than those about 
Jerusalem, though none appeared of equal antiquity with 
those upon the Mount of Olives. 

Our guide had informed us that we were passing over 
a part of the country notorious for the attacks of robbers, 
and upon our seeing three fellows sitting under the shade 



BETHLEHEM AND THE FOOLS OF SOLOMON. 325 



of a rock, he begged us to hold our arms, which had been 
slinging across our backs, prepared in our hands ; but no 
notice appeared to be taken of us. 

As Ave passed up the vale, continually rising, the road 
became narrower, with a wall built of stone on one side, 
and the solid rock on the other ; and, soon after this, we 
were enabled to see the great cisterns, or pools, to attain 
which we crossed a bridge, or dam, from which we de- 
scended into the first and largest of these. We found 
here a very little water, and at one end only, and this was 
stagnant and full of impure creatures. The rainy season 
was but just over, and as we heard from our guide that it 
never contained much more water, its condition furnishes 
fresh reason for the opinion that some travellers have 
entertained concerning the gradual increase of the desert 
upon the formerly better- watered countries of Judsea, and 
the decrease of the earth's fertility throughout the "whole 
of the higher lands around. Within the pools there are 
grades or steps cut in the rock, in some cases reaching 
nearly round the walls, and these are supposed to have 
been formed to suit those who might wash or bathe at 
the times of the different heights of the water. 

About a hundred and fifty paces above this, we were 
brought to a cavern, the entrance to which was by a 
narrow well, over the mouth of which we found a heavy 
stone rolled, which we removed, with the assistance of 
some Arabs who were at hand, and descended. Here we 
found a large chamber, two or three smaller, and a quan- 
tity of water, but no running stream ; yet, from the con- 
dition of the walls and the appearance of the masonry, 
we conjectured that there had been formerly a tunnel 
leading to the stream below this. Upon the whole, we 
felt disposed to believe that the Gardens of Solomon 
were watered by these pools, which had been reservoirs 



326 



TRAVELS 1ST EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



for that purpose, and for people bathing and washing, 
rather than for the supply, as some have supposed, of 
water at Jerusalem. After this, we returned to the holy 
city by the same route by which we had approached it 
from the desert. 

Before parting with the companions with whom I had 
been travelling since quitting Egypt, who all left Jeru- 
salem before I was prepared to continue my journey, one 
of the party and myself experienced a little adventure 
which, as it is not foreign to the pretensions of these 
sketches, I shall relate. 

As my friend and myself returned to the convent before 
the sun set, after the day we had spent at Bethlehem and 
the Pools of Solomon, we walked down the way to the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which it had been our 
intention to enter. The church, however, being closed, we 
continued our walk, without much regarding whether we 
turned to the right or the left, or whither the streets 
might chance to lead us, and came to a low, obscure 
arcade, which we did not remember to have seen 
before ; observing nothing uncommon save the total ab- 
sence of passengers of any description, we entered by 
the open gates. It happened, however, that we had 
hardly made fifty paces within before we seemed to find 
ourselves guilty of that venial indecorum which error 
excuses in the streets of the capitals of Europe, but not 
at all times in a Mussulman town. Not to be too par- 
ticular concerning what passed, we had not proceeded 
a step further than this, when a turbaned, stout, black 
African met us, and as he approached he assailed us with 
a voluble and clamorous torrent of words, in an accent 
which we did not, of course, understand. But some 
fault or outrage which we supposed we must be com- 
mitting seemed to have caused this clamour against us ; 



BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 327 

jet we would have continued our walk through the arcade 
had we not observed our new acquaintance, who was as 
active as vociferous, upon seeing us disposed to proceed, 
turn suddenly in the opposite direction, and, with a bound 
that might have been applauded at a show, he in a mo- 
ment attained the gates at which we had entered, and 
closed and locked them. 

The first thing that now struck us was, that we had 
entered the sacred precincts of the mosque of Omar, from 
which we knew we could not be far distant ; and as we 
were aware that the penalty for entering the outer courts 
of this mosque was the weight of perhaps a dozen 
great bludgeons either on the back or some less suscep- 
tive part of the body, we concluded that our present 
condition was one of a serious nature ; and, really be- 
lieving our lives worth a very little unless we could 
repass the gates, we quickly retraced our steps, and, 
seizing the black fellow, we attempted, by threats almost 
as rude as his own late vociferations, to oblige him to unlock 
them ; but this he stoutly refused. In the scuffle, however, 
that followed, we threw him to the ground and obtained 
the key ; but such was the novel construction of the lock, 
and the darkness of the place by this time, that we could 
make no use of it, nor could we break open the door, 
which we attempted. It struck us, however, that we had 
not the right key ; and as the rogue still stood by in 
hopes, we supposed, of regaining the key, we seized him 
again, and finding something upon him that resembled a 
padlock, we thought we now might escape ; but still we 
could find no sort of connection between any of the 
three pieces of which the lock seemed to be composed ; 
and while we were making this trial undisturbed, the 
African suddenly fled, calling as loud as he could cry 
as he ran up the arcade. 



328 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Our situation was now not the pleasantest in the world, 
for we expected bayonets instead of bludgeons ; and 
both the cause and the place seemed the most favourable 
in the world for a sanguinary issue of a strife so little 
anticipated, that we had not a weapon of any kind with 
us. We made, however, further attempts to open the 
closed doors by legitimate means ; but, while my com- 
panion was fully occupied in his endeavours with the 
key, I made an attempt and succeeded in squeezing 
through the opening beneath the lock ; my friend fol- 
lowed, and we were once more in the free air. 

We now made a most hasty, but we could not think 
inglorious, retreat up the hill, and arrived within the 
convent with the lock and key in hand, which my com- 
panion, with my consent, determined to preserve as a 
curiosity in art as well as in remembrance of the peril to 
which we thought at the time we were exposed. 

Our clanger, however, did not appear, upon further know- 
ledge of our situation, to have been quite so imminent as it 
had seemed to be ; for, upon calling on our consul in the 
morning and relating the circumstances, he informed us 
that the arcade from which we had escaped was merely 
the entrance to a bazaar and not even very near the 
courts of the mosque of Omar ; but he recommended us 
not to make our appearance in that neighbourhood again, 
especially after dark, nor to mention the subject to any 
other person for some days. The probability therefore 
is, that we did not run quite so great a risk, at any rate, 
of life, or even perhaps of cudgelling, as we thought at 
the time. 

Shortly after this adventure, my three companions of 
the desert left Jerusalem with the intention of continuing 
their journey through Syria and to Constantinople, which 
was already known to myself ; and it is my good fortune 



BETHLEHEM AND THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 329 

to be able to say that I did not separate from them after 
a journey so long and so full of incidents, where the 
mutual aid of congenial minds is indispensable, for profit 
or pleasure, without great and lasting regrets. 



330 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 

New Companions — Impressions upon Leaving the Holy City — Face of the 
Country — One of the Muleteers Meeting his Young Wife — His offer to 
Sell Her. 

The time now arrived to which I had limited my stay at 
Jerusalem, but some difficulty arose on account of the 
insecurity of the road in the part of the country through 
which it was my intention to travel. The servant I 
brought with me from Cairo returned to Egypt shortly 
after my arrival at Jerusalem, and an Arab whom I had 
of necessity engaged to proceed with me through Syria, 
refused to leave the city without a strong party of 
travellers, unless I obtained a guard from the Pasha, 
which I had no intention of doing. I was not long, how- 
ever, detained by this difficulty ; for, having made the 
acquaintance of another party of two persons, who were 
about to take the same route through the country, we 
agreed to join and remain united as long as there should 
appear to be any necessity for mutual aid, and to be 
independent and free from any further obligations after 
the necessity should seem to cease ; and we did not 
separate until our travels in Syria were accomplished. 

My future companions were Monsieur Malen and his 
accomplished wife, and the event of being once more in 

•ompany with one of the fair ladies of Europe, was as 

agreeable as it was novel to myself. 



DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 



331 



The presence of a lady must at all times tend to vary 
the light in which tourists of the opposite sex see what 
may chiefly engage their notice. Travellers when not 
so accompanied, and compelled to mix with a half 
savage race, unwillingly and unconsciously contract a 
portion of the rude and heedless character of those 
who surround them ; and this temper of mind is not 
favourable to the admission of the better or more 
charitable impressions which they would wish to enter- 
tain ; but, associated with one of the more patient sex 
from a happier land, where ladies take their natural po- 
sition in human society, the influence of that refinement 
which is by nature their peculiar inheritance, reminds us 
that we may ' do all that may become a man ' without 
abandoning either moderation or patience. 

It is proper, however, for me to add, what has been 
under similar circumstances said before, that I must 
exonerate my fellow-travellers from all responsibility, 
both as to the opinions and the descriptions given, should 
the habit of writing in the plural number sometimes be 
productive of what might lead to an inference that certain 
impressions felt by the writer were certainly those of all 
whom the plural might seem to include. 

At an early hour on May 13 we breakfasted for the 
last time at the convent, and soon afterwards mounted 
our horses and quitted the city by the gate of Bethlehem. 
Our cavalcade consisted of five horses, ridden by ourselves 
and our dragomans, and five mules conducted by five 
muleteers. The commencement of our journey was the 
same as that by which we had passed over on our way to 
Eamah ; but after turning towards the right as we pro- 
ceeded, we descended into a vale still more thickly planted 
with olive-trees than the hills about Jerusalem, and here 
for a short time we lost sight of the capital ; but after 



332 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYKIA. 



mounting the hills as we advanced, we obtained nearly 
the same striking view which is to be seen from the 
heights of Eamah, and we halted, and turned to take a 
last farewell of the holy city. 

The feelings of Christian travellers leaving Jerusalem 
are of mixed character. We are quitting the city whose 
history has been engraven on our minds since our earliest 
years, the spot upon which once rested all that was sacred 
or any way connected with the revelations of God to 
man, and where everything belonging to human efforts 
for the refinement of our species once flourished. Yet, 
after the many vicissitudes that Jerusalem has experienced, 
there is little left that can reflect any portion of its former 
magnificence. The very land, once covered with the 
fruits of the earth, is now a desert. If the eye rests 
upon a village, it is but a wretched collection of filthy 
hovels of stone or mud, while the sides of the hills are 
clothed in the colours of sterility. Look over the vales, 
and here and there a grove of olive-trees serves to make 
the proportions of sterile and barren land the more 
apparent, and to fix the gloomy impression yet the 
stronger upon the mind. But if the eye rests upon the 
slopes of the hills beneath the walls of the city, the 
ground is there seen white with the tombs and grave- 
stones of the dead of many creeds, who have fallen 
asleep in their various hopes of the final judgment, and 
every one in expectation of the exclusive favour of the 
Father and Judge of all. We turned from the scene 
upon which our eyes had for some time rested, with the 
mingled feelings which the recollection of the many tests 
of the goodness of heaven and the ingratitude and crimes 
of men inspired, and proceeded on our journey. 

After our feeling adieu to Jerusalem and the scenery 
that surrounds it, we continued our way in gloomy 



DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 333 

thoughtfulness, without turning again to see the towers 
and minarets of the city sink behind the hills as we 
slowly descended into the vale before us. We may have 
passed another hour in silently 4 citing up a thousand 
heavy times ' during the wars which the holy city had wit- 
nessed, before anything regarding the present engaged 
our attention. 

The first incident that awakened our sensibility to 
what was now around us, was the meeting and parting, 
which we had the opportunity of witnessing, of one of 
our muleteers with his partner in the weak Mussulman 
bonds of conjugal alliance. In the valley into which 
we had descended there were some patches of corn, 
which five or six women were employed in reaping. 
Labour, as usual, stood still as we approached, and the 
whole party seemed at first to be contemplating the 
cavalcade with ordinary curiosity ; but presently a 
veiled youthful damsel sprang sylph-like over the rocky 
ground which intervened, and came to greet one of our 
muleteers, who was her conjugal partner, and apparently 
of about the age of fifty years. The engagement of the 
muleteer with our party had been sudden, and the young 
wife did not yet know the sorrowful tidings of the long 
and tedious journey which he had undertaken to 
perform. 

We had stopped to ask the particular cause of the fair 
Arab's visit to one of our party, and we remained, as the 
caravan proceeded, under the pretensions of wishing to 
ask her some questions, though in reality to admire her 
as she stood upon the rock above the road, veiled save 
her eyes, which were as sparkling as the rays of the sun 
from the dew upon the dark skin of the fruit, so often 
made a type of beauty in the eyes of the fair of our 
species ; and a loose robe, which was her sole proper 



33-4 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



garment, left a part of her bosom bare, on which the 
beauty of youth was stamped upon a golden Syrian skin ; 
while the wind, supplying the want of a girdle, displayed 
a form that it seemed as if a fan island goddess might 
have envied. 

In this position the young wife received the tidings of 
her immediate separation from her somewhat venerable 
spouse, which she no sooner learned than she began to 
weep bitterly and aloud ; and as Mussulman delicacy 
stood in the way of her descending to embrace her more 
philosophic partner, she further expressed her sorrows by 
clenching her hands and stamping with her bare feet on 
the rock, until the advance of the cavalcade warned us 
that it was time to follow. 

But I must add, that when a short time afterwards I re- 
proached the good maD for separating himself for so long a 
time from his young and beautiful wife, he informed me 
that, although he had divorced two other wives since he 
married her, that she might not be exposed to their envy 
and jealousy, so much he liked me, that if I thought 
proper to send him back for her, he would divorce her at 
the first town at which we arrived, and I might take her 
to wife for the sum of two hundred piastres, or between 
forty and fifty shillings. ' Indeed, so much,' — he added, 
when he saw what he took for hesitation, — ' so much was 
the love he bore me, that I might take her for even one 
hundred piastres, if I thought two hundred too much.' 
To which I told him, in answer, that two hundred 
piastres was very much below the real worth of his wife, 
but that it would be more convenient for me to marry at 
the end of a long journey than at the beginning, and that 
I should therefore forego so favourable an opportunity of 
being happily united until my travels were accomplished. 

We found some improvement in the face of the country 



DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 



335 



on this side the hills, which had shut out Jerusalem from 
our view. At about two hours and a half from the city 
we passed an ancient village on the slope of a hill on the 
right hand, and soon afterwards a village similarly 
situated on the left, and remarkable for being wholly 
inhabited by Christians of the Greek Church, who, 
our guides informed us, did not permit Mussulmans on 
any pretence to rest the night in the town when they 
passed through, and that the Mussulmans never attempted 
even to unload their beasts in this village, unless when 
in times of great confusion they have an armed force to 
protect them. 

At six hours from Jerusalem we descended into a vale 
thickly covered with old olive-trees and young fig-trees ; 
and at the bottom of this we found an Arab village. 
Another hour, and we reached a narrow but not infertile 
vale between stony hills, where we made our first en- 
campment for the night. But here we found the water 
not only indifferent, but so scarce that we had great diffi- 
culty in procuring sufficient to prepare our supper. 



336 



CHAPTEE XL. 

NABLUS. 

Fruitful Country — Nablus — Manuscripts in possession of the Samaritans 
— Dissatisfaction after seeing a part of the Manuscripts. 

The day after we left Jerusalem we raised our tents at an 
early hour, and continued our way along the same wady 
in which we had encamped. Figs and olives were here 
growing along the whole vales, with greater luxuriance 
than I had before seen them in Palestine ; and the hills 
were terraced on either hand, and covered with corn, 
apparently more healthy than any we had seen near 
Jerusalem, and some of the crops were already inviting 
the sickle. 

After an hour's march we came to the wady Sungin, 
which is a valley of triangular form, of about four hun- 
dred or five hundred acres in extent. It was wholly 
covered with corn, but apparently of inferior quality to 
that growing in the fields over which we had just passed. 

After three hours' further march we passed some un- 
sown arable land, upon which a few olive-trees were 
flourishing ; and shortly after this, we came to a spring 
upon the descent of a hill, where we were able for the 
first time since we left Jerusalem to drink of the most 
delicious beverage that has been given to man, who 
learns its value only when he suffers from its scarcity. 

We next passed the village of Harrassa, which, we were 
informed, had lately lost twenty out of fifty of its elder 



NABLUS. 



337 



inhabitants, who had all seemed to die from their ad- 
vanced ages, rather than from any apparent disease. 

Soon after this we met several of the armed domestics 
of the Governor of Nabliis, who cautioned us not to 
proceed before we received a strong guard, for that the 
villages in the vicinity were ever at war with one 
another, and that it had already been proclaimed, after the 
manner of the Turks and the Arabs, that the governor no 
longer held himself responsible for the lives and property 
of travellers, unless they were under the special guard of 
a party of his troops. We paid, however, no regard to 
his warning, and we did not meet with any marauders, 
or at least any strong enough to look contemptuously 
upon double-barrelled pieces, and such other superior 
arms as Europeans are known to carry, and think perhaps 
with reason that they are more indebted to these for 
their safety than for their warlike appearance in any 
other respect. 

The face of the country still improved after we left 
the last-mentioned village, until we entered a fertile 
valley, partially cultivated, which we did not quit 
until we arrived at the gate of Nablus. We had 
determined not to enter this town that evening, and 
were pitching our tents in a grove about a hundred yards 
from the gate, when we received a similar warning to 
that given us upon the road, and which was said to be 
directly from the governor himself ; but we paid no more 
regard to it than we had done before, believing that it was 
a mere means which his Excellency had devised to put 
a few piastres into his private treasury ; and we slept 
securely without loss, or alarm, or any inconvenience 
save from the excessive cold, and a drenching from the 
rain which fell heavily during the night, and was driven 
into our tents by the wind. 



338 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



The first part of the following morning was stormy, 
with mizzling rain, while the tops of the mountains on 
either side the valley were covered with thick inist, 
which threatened a continuance of the rain. 

We could see all we desired of Nablus in a few 
hours, which was the time we intended to remain ; but 
the inconvenience from the weather which we had suf- 
fered during the night suggested the prudence of apply- 
ing to the governor to provide us with lodgings ; but 
while we were hesitating on account of the reception we 
might meet with after our disregard of his advice sent to 
us the preceding night, the rays of the sun burst through 
the thick mists which had obscured his healthful beams 
and in one hour dried up every damp vapour that arose 
from the drenched ground, and transformed the climate, 
that had just resembled that of Britain in November, to 
that which is wont to prevail at this season in the gayer 
latitudes of the great orb's more direct rays ; and this 
change put an end to our doubts, and determined the 
time of our departure. 

We now entered Nablus, but our stay was not longer 
than we had originally intended, and the greater part of 
it was occupied in a visit which we paid to the dwellings 
of the last remnant of the Samaritans, which was one of 
the objects that had induced us to take this route 
through Palestine. Though Nablus is the ancient 
Sychem or Sychar of the Scriptures, it is now an Arab 
town ; but it is the habitation, as the Samaritans them- 
selves inform us, of all that remain of that sect of 
Hebrews which are dear in our memories from the 
divine parable, which at least infers that they were, of 
the children of Israel, the least disposed to that pride and 
narrowness of soul which would limit the divine attri- 
bute of mercy to men of their own sect. 



NABLUS. 



339 



We took a native guide, who led us to their dwellings, 
which are placed without the walls or proper boundaries 
of the town on the side of the hill which rises above it, 
and forms a part of a range of hills, one of the spherical 
summits of which is that which tradition hereh&$ declared 
to be that from which our Saviour made the divine dis- 
course we call the sermon on the mount. 

We found the olive and other fruits of the climate 
growing along the slope of the hill between the town 
and its barren heights more luxuriantly than any we had 
hitherto seen, but there was no dwelling better than a 
mud hovel, except the temple and the place of residence 
of the chief priest or rabbi, which adjoins or is a part 
of it. 

Arriving at the sacred edifice of the Samaritans, we 
entered a court and mounted a stone staircase, which led 
to a terrace of a square form and roofed on one side, but 
from no part of which was there any view beyond the 
walls which surround it, We found the chief of the sect 
seated upon a mat, beneath a covering, after the manner 
of the orientals. He was dressed in the Arab costume 
and turbaned, and was writing upon a scroll of parch- 
ment, which was placed upon his knee. We made the 
salaam as we stepped forward, which he did not return, 
or so slightly as to escape notice, nor did he lay down his 
pen, rise, or give the least indication of welcome, nor 
betray the smallest surprise to see Europeans so suddenly 
present themselves before him, and accompanied by a lady, 
who was probably the first fair- European he had ever 
seen. However, everything seemed to augur favourably 
for the success of our main object, which was to see some 
manuscripts reported to be of the highest authority, and 
of which w r e understood the temple of the Samaritans 
to be the sacred depository. We wished indeed to ob- 

z 2 



340 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



tain also such information as might be most interesting 
concerning the residue of this peculiar sect of the 
Israelites, who are perhaps on the eve of vanishing from 
the face of the earth, without leaving any record of their 
existence beyond what is contained in the few passages 
concerning them in the sacred history. 

As our reception had suggested to us caution in any 
attempts to make a nearer approach to the seemingly 
haughty rabbi, we instructed our dragoman to inform 
him that we were of a nation which took much interest 
in everything that concerned any of the descendants of the 
children of Jacob, and travelling in this direction we had 
heard that he presided over the small residue that re- 
mained of a sect of that ancient people, and we had 
therefore done ourselves the pleasure of waiting upon 
him. Moreover, we desired the dragoman to add, that 
it would afford us pleasure if the people of whom we 
were a part should take a position towards the Sama- 
ritans that would enable them to check any persecutions 
that we had heard they often suffered, and to which we 
attributed the well-known decline of their numbers. 

The rabbi laid down his pen. 

We now inquired of him in what language the manu- 
script, which we had observed he was copying, was 
written, to which he replied, 

' In the most ancient of any, even that of our Father 
Abraham.' 

4 And who,' we then said, 4 was the writer ? ' 

' The work,' replied the rabbi, rising slowly upon his 
feet, 'is the joint production of Adam, Abraham, and 
Moses.' 

Our looks on receiving this information, had we not 
been under great restraint, would doubtless have be- 
trayed our thoughts ; but, if we might judge from the 



NABLUS. 



341 



apparent increase of condescension on the part of the 
rabbi, our feelings could not have been better disguised. 
Taking, therefore, advantage of the favourable impression 
which our simular virtue appeared to have made on the 
Samaritan, we besought him to write a few lines for us in 
the character which he was using, upon a piece of paper 
apart, and after a little consideration he promised to write 
something for us before we should leave him. Being 
then advised that we were anxious to see the temple and 
its important archives, he took a key from under his 
gabardine, and opened a folding door within a few steps 
from the place where we stood, and admitted us into an 
apartment, which is the conservatory of what remains, 
appertaining to the ceremonials and forms of worship of 
the Samaritan people. 

The room did not appear to be above forty feet square, 
and the walls were of stucco, whitewashed ; it con- 
tained no decorations or furniture, such as we are accus- 
tomed to see in the places of worship of the Israelites, 
except a mat covering the whole of the floor ; bat there 
was a screen across an ample niche, where, we were in- 
formed, the manuscripts that we were so desirous of 
inspecting are preserved, and behind which the rabbi 
alone passes. 

His sanctity now demanded, as he stood upon the step 
upon which the screen rested, whether we intended to 
pay for the exhibition he was ready to show, which led 
us to suppose that he wished to receive the recompense 
of his condescension before we had the proof of his faith- 
fulness ; we therefore very naturally desired to know the 
sum he required, to which he replied that he did not 
mean to demand any precise sum, or to be paid before 
we had seen the Scriptures which he was about to show, 
and that it was sufficient that we intended to pay for the 



342 



TRAVELS IX EGYPT AXD SYRIA. 



exhibition after we had been gratified, to which of course 
we bowed assent. 

The Samaritan now passed behind the screen and re- 
turned with a large scroll on his arm, similar to that 
which is paraded on certain days, and from which the 
Pentateuch is read, in other synagogues. We all now 
seated ourselves upon cushions which were set for us 
while the scroll was unrolled for a few feet, and we had 
a fair occasion of making some observations. The scroll 
itself was of fine parchment, and the writing was in the 
Hebrew tongue, but evidently, from the state of the skin 
upon which it was written, not more ancient than the 
building in which it was deposited, which perhaps had 
seen about three or four generations of the Samaritans 
pass away, and no more. 

We asked the rabbi whether this was all that he had 
to show, to which he replied in the affirmative ; but as 
we received a hint from our guide that he had on a 
former occasion seen another manuscript, we expressed 
our disappointment at what we had seen, and declared 
that we had been assured that there were two such 
scrolls ; but this he stoutly denied, until we expressed 
our dissatisfaction and our disappointment so strongly as 
appeared to raise some doubts in the mind of the rabbi 
whether he should receive any fee, upon which he con- 
fessed there was another, and this without betraying the 
least confusion or shame for the untruth he had told. 
He now coolly brought out the second scroll, and un- 
rolled a portion of it in the same manner that he had 
clone the first. It was in the same character, and, to our 
judgments, of the same century as the other. We now, 
therefore, contented ourselves by giving him our decided 
opinion that, whatever might be the value of the writing. 



NABLUS. 



343 



of which we were not judges, we were certain that the 
copies we had seen were of no great antiquity. 

There may possibly be more manuscripts here than 
those we saw, and they are perhaps in the ancient 
Chaldean tongue ; but it is certain, whatever their con- 
tents may be, the European antiquary ought to possess 
copies of them, which, I suppose, might be obtained for 
a fee they might be well worth ; or the Sultan's firman 
might be obtained for this object by some European Go- 
vernment which has sufficient influence at Constantinople. 

We now paid the rabbi what we thought, under all 
the circumstances, quite enough for what we had seen, 
but it appeared to come very short of his expectations ; 
so that when we parted he was in such ill humour that 
we did not attempt to obtain the slip of writing which he 
had promised us. 



344 



CHAPTER XLI. 

JOURXEY TOWARDS NAZARETH. 

A Bedouin Chief — A Troop of Belligerents — Their Intentions — 
Improvement in the State of the Country. 

On the morning after our interview with the Samaritan 
rabbi, we descended into the town and visited its prin- 
cipal streets and bazaars ; and before noon we took leave 
of the ancient capital of Samaria, and pursued our journey 
towards Galilee by the most direct route between Nablus 
and Nazareth. 

The wady which we passed through during the first 
horns of our march was fertile and partially cultivated ; 
but we observed some decrease of fertility, and still more 
of industry, until w r e reached the village of Sebaste, at 
which we arrived soon after noon. 

As Sebaste was a little out of our direct way, we had 
ridden on to some distance in advance of the mules, in 
order that we might visit it without the necessity of the 
caravan entering. The place is situated upon a hill, and 
though now of no consideration in itself, being but a 
mere village, is remarkable for two ancient mosques, one 
of which is reported to cover the tomb of John the 
Baptist ; and we learned from the villagers that Chris- 
tians had some time since been admitted into this mosque, 
which induced us to make application to the sheykh of 
the village to allow us the same privilege ; but we found 



JOURNEY TOWARDS NAZARETH. 



345 



that- no one of our faith had entered since Ibrahim Pasha 
was in authority here, who had permitted this and other 
privileges to Europeans, none of which were to be again 
allowed. 

When we returned to the plain we could see nothing 
of our mules, and as we had only our Jerusalem servants 
with us, we were not able to conjecture which of two 
paths that w r e stumbled upon was that which, had been 
chosen by the muleteers. If we happened to take 
the right w r ay, w r e might shortly overtake our beasts; 
but if we should choose the wrong, we should not see 
them that night, and perhaps not until late the next clay. 
Fortunately, however, we chose the right road, and joined 
them, after a short turn, in less time than we had expected 
from the distance we had been able to see in advance. 

After leaving Sebaste, we found the plain less and less 
fertile, and after an hour's march w r e commenced the 
gentle ascent of a high and rocky hill ; but when we had 
attained its summit, we were gratified by the finest and 
most extensive view we had seen since we left the country 
of Judaea, including within the range which the eye com- 
passed more variety of mountain and valley, and, towards 
the south, of plain and cultivated land, than I had seen 
since leaving Egypt. 

We next descended into a broad plain, not infertile, 
but sparely cultivated, and from which we had a view of 
several picturesque villages upon the hills on our left 
hand. But we were not far advanced upon this plain be- 
fore we observed a horseman at some distance galloping 
towards us, and as he approached we perceived, by the 
two balls below the spike of a spear which he carried in 
his right hand, that he was a Bedouin chief. He was 
armed also with pistols and carbine, and, superbly 
dressed in his native costume, with his horse richly 



346 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AM) SYRIA. 



caparisoned, he was by far the noblest-looking war- 
rior we had seen during our travels. He pulled up as he 
came near to us, and while riding by our side he de- 
manded whether we had any intention to halt ; but as 
our guides were under apprehensions lest he should have 
a strong party at hand, and have no other design now 
than to observe our strength, we thought it prudent to 
say that this was uncertain, and we continued our march, 
upon which he made no other question than to offer to 
exchange his steed for a young mare I was riding ; but 
as the mare chanced to belong to my own servant, he 
had his reply immediately in the negative. But the fears 
of our guides proved to be unfounded, for the Bedouin 
chief left us, after this reply, at the same speed that he 
had approached, and no other horsemen appeared. 

We had not advanced far along this plain when we 
met a party of travellers, from whom we learned some 
reports concerning the insecurity of the country through 
which we were to pass, in consequence of the feuds and 
wars which were actively carrying on between the vil- 
lages upon one hill and the villages upon another 
throughout a wide district of the country. 

As soon as we reached the bounds of the plain, we had 
an opportunity of seeing a belligerent party prepared for 
making an attack upon then enemies. The warriors were 
divided into two detachments, which we at first took to 
be enemies to each other, for they severally occupied two 
sides of a vale, which had a considerable hill on either 
hand. We proposed riding up to the detachment to 
which we were nearest, but all our natives refused. One 
said that our horses would be taken, another that the 
lady also would be kept, while the rest might take their 
way to some village on foot, and another did not think 
that any of our lives would be safe. 



JOURNEY TOWARDS NAZARETH. 



Some of the warriors, however, rose from the ground 
upon which they had been lying, and one of our mule- 
teers, who still strongly objected to all of us approaching 
the fighting men, rode up towards them, to answer, he 
said, any questions they might think proper to ask, and 
search for any news he might obtain. One of the war- 
riors, indeed, who was mounted, met him half-way, and we 
observed that they conversed without dismounting, and 
when our muleteer rejoined us we learned that the little 
army, by their own account, had had a combat with 
their enemies, whose town they had endeavoured to take, 
that very morning, and that they had — or so they de- 
clared — killed thirty men and wounded many more, and 
had lost about the same number ; moreover, that they 
had retreated to increase their force, and that they in- 
tended, as soon as it was dark, again to attack the same 
village, and that, if they took possession of it, it was their 
intention to exterminate the inhabitants. 

As we proceeded up the w T ady, we passed reinforce- 
ments of men and horses inarching to join the detachment 
we had passed by ; and, at a short distance higher up, 
we passed a party of about a dozen well-equipped war- 
riors, lying upon the ground, but w r e did not communicate 
with them. 

I must add, that although we arrived at Nazareth on 
the following day, and were some days either there or in 
the vicinity, we were not able to learn the result of the 
attack, which, from having seen the preparations, greatly 
excited our interest. 

After passing this remarkable plain, the face of the 
country began to assume a more decided appearance of 
fertility, with the welcome evidence of superior industry. 
The valleys were generally cultivated, and the hills were 
lower and less rocky, some of them producing the 



348 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



prickly oak and other wild vegetation to their very 
summits. 

On the evening of the day we left Nablus we en- 
camped in an olive-grove within pistol-shot of a village, 
and while our servants were pitching the tents we walked 
through the village without a dragoman or guide. There 
was much less reserve on the side of the Arabs here than 
we had hitherto observed. Some of them stood in 
groups, and did not appear anxious to conceal that we 
were the subject of their conversation, which appeared to 
be good-humoured ; and, as we were about leaving the 
village, we were gratified with the novel sight of a herd 
of cattle, which were brought in from the grazing country 
around for their better security during the night. 

We raised our tents early the next morning, and 
immediately after leaving the grove we entered upon an 
extensive and fertile plain, partially cultivated, with two 
or three villages in sight upon the hills around, which, 
as we proceeded, exhibited increased fertility and more 
varied scenery. 

After two hours' march, we came upon an undulating 
country, the valleys in which were fairly cultivated, and 
the higher lands generally covered with wild vegetation. 

Four hours after we had left the village at which we 
slept, we opened the view of Mount Tabor, which tradi- 
tion has assigned to be the site of the transfiguration. 
Soon after this we came to a gentle swell of the land 
covered with ripe corn, which some women, unveiled, 
were reaping. Several of them ran towards us, especially 
to report that they were Christians, and that they wel- 
comed us in Galilee. They then asked us for a little 
tobacco, which we gave them, upon which they uttered 
prayers for our safety and happiness. 



349 



CHAPTER XLII. 

NAZARETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE. 

A Traveller's Impressions here compared with those at Jerusalem and 
Bethlehem — Reflections concerning our Saviour — The Lady of our Party 
supposed to be a Boy Disguised — Kindness of the Monks — A Visit from 
the Superior of the Latin Convent — Sea of Galilee — Tiberias — Fishermen. 

An hour after the welcome we received from the Christian 
women of the country, we came to some hills of a more 
rocky character ; but the pathway for our horses was 
good, and we easily climbed them. Then, making a turn 
round a slight elevation on our left hand, we suddenly 
came in full view of Nazareth, the very name of which 
awakens so many joyful recollections. 

If at Bethlehem the thoughts of the Christian traveller 
are turned towards the birth of Him who brought upon 
earth the pure law which the whole civilised world, with 
their various forms of worship, acknowledge, and if at 
Jerusalem we contemplate the tragic scenes which termi- 
nated our Saviour's mortal existence, it is at Nazareth we 
may more calmly meditate upon what the sacred histo- 
rians seem to have thought of less importance to the final 
end for which they wrote, and have therefore noticed 
less fully. The early life, the education, character, 
and all that was human in the Saviour, seem to have 
been lost in the contemplation of what was not of this 
world. Of all, indeed, that might interest us concerning 
the childhood of the Author of our religion, we can turn 



350 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



to hardly any recorded fact save the flight into Egypt ; 
yet to the traveller through the vale of Nazareth every 
object which presents itself possesses the freshest interest. 

It was towards the approach of evening that we came 
upon the space of ground, of a few hundred acres in 
extent, upon one side of which stands the town which 
nurtured the child destined to change the face of the 
moral world. The elements were at rest, and the sun 
was low enough in the heavens to permit us to regard 
everything around without the inconvenience that his 
mid-day rays might have occasioned. All appeared to 
wear an interest of a kind to which I was before a 
stranger, and which I had not anticipated. We had on 
our left hand the partially fertile hill around which we had 
turned, and in front of us the town, surmounted by a 
Christian church and .convent, while a tall hedge of the 
prickly pear entirely concealed any mean dwellings that 
might have spoiled the view of the more picturesque 
objects of the scene. On our right hand was a grove of 
trees for a short distance, and we presently opened the 
perfect view of the entire valley, which was cultivated, 
and covered, as far as we could see, with white crops and 
pasture ; it was without any artificial divisions, and was 
sheltered by hills, the lower portions of which produced 
ample vegetation, though their summits were rugged and 
barren. 

Such are the chief features of the scenery at Nazareth, 
the natural objects in which must be the same to-day as 
when the Son of Mary dwelt there. Every rock around 
has a pleasing interest. On this the Child may have 
rested from play at the season in which nature engages 
all to sport for the preservation of health of body and 
mind ; on that He may have sat to meditate with the 
opening consciousness of a destiny so different from that 



NAZARETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE. 



351 



of His brothers and His sisters, and the other associates of 
His youth. 

As we had entered the valley, we were at first doubt- 
ful whether we should pitch our tents or enter the 
convent ; but we were so kindly welcomed by the monks, 
who came out to meet us, that we were glad to take up 
our abode among them, and as soon as we were assigned 
apartments we laid down for the night. 

The next morning we rose early, and came out of the 
convent to make a leisure survey of the scenery around ; 
for the European lady, struck with the beautiful view 
which had presented itself to us as we entered the vale, 
had determined to exercise the art in which she emi- 
nently excelled, in making a drawing of some part of the 
scene which the vale presented, and she was not long in 
choosing the best station to represent the fairest view to 
be obtained of the interesting town and its more imme- 
diate scenery. 

While the lady was engaged with her work, which 
became the exact representation of what it presented, 
I took the opportunity of a lone walk over the slopes 
and declivities of the surrounding hills, occupied with 
reflections which were among the greater enjoyments 
which I received during my travels in the Holy Land. 

From the hill which was on our right hand, as we 
approached Nazareth, the town is seen to great advan- 
tage. The convent and mosque stand near its centre, 
from which the suburbs extend on either side, so inter- 
mingled with trees, chiefly prickly oaks, as to afford a 
more delightful aspect than is confirmed upon a nearer 
survey of the habitations of the Mussulman and Christian 
population. 

After I had made my lone promenade, and the lady 
had put aside her drawing, we all walked together 



352 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



through the greater part of the town, and by the mosque, 
which is well placed among fig-trees and cedars, and as 
a considerable portion of the inhabitants are Christian, 
we were received generally with smiles of recognition, 
and some of the good people asked questions, the sim- 
plicity of which afforded us much amusement. A woman 
whispered to one of our dragomans to ask whether the 
lady, as she appeared, who accompanied us, was not a 
boy in disguise ; and one of the other sex, after we had 
told them whence we came, desired to know the distance 
from Nazareth to England, but we found great difficulty 
in making them comprehend the distance by any other 
method than that of the time occupied in travelling ; and 
as to conveying to them any notion whatever of the ocean, 
and of the rapidity with which we travel by land and by 
sea in Europe, there was no means whatever, without a 
longer discourse than the occasion admitted. 

As soon as we returned to our apartments, the superior 
of the Latin convent came to pay us a visit, and we found 
him open, and of superior address to any of the priests 
we had seen in other parts of Palestine. He had, more- 
over, an air of good-humour and confidence, which we 
attributed to the happy condition of the Christians of 
Nazareth, by reason of their security, and the justice 
which their numbers obtained for them. 

In the course of the day we examined the church of 
the convent, under the conduct of the superior. In a 
niche, or grotto, to which we descended by steps beneath 
the raised communion, there is a miniature chapel, with a 
richly decorated altar, and a painting representing the 
Annunciation ; the superior informed us that the spot 
upon which we stood was said to be — such were his 
words — the very site, at that time within the house 
of Mary, of the interview between the messenger from 



NAZARETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE. 



353 



heaven and the mother of Jesus, when the first miracle 
recorded in the Christian annals was announced. 

On the third morning after our arrival, we left Nazareth 
for the Sea of Galilee, leaving our heavy baggage behind 
us, as it was our intention to return to this tranquil site 
of more composed and meditative interest than perhaps 
any other in the Holy Land. 

We ascended the steep hill north of Nazareth, which 
affords the finest view of the town and of its environs ; 
but we observed the higher portions of the vicinity to be 
generally barren, and it is more commonly in the valleys 
that we meet with the welcome green foliage, in place of 
the barren soil which is found upon the hills. 

Turning to the opposite side of the hill which bounds 
the vale of Nazareth, we had a more extensive view, 
but less varied than ordinary in feature ; but as the 
traveller again descends, the village of Eaima, at the 
distance of about two miles, on the declivity of a 
hill on the left hand, adds a beautiful object to the 
view. About half an hour's march beyond this, we 
came to a little Greek chapel standing alone, and 
apparently not within sight of any other building, and 
this, we were informed, was the site of the first miracle 
performed by Jesus of Nazareth, and duly recorded as 
such by St. John. 
* We dismounted and entered the chapel, accompanied 
by a Greek priest who was in attendance. It is a mean 
stone building, with nothing of interest within, unless the 
receptacle in which the water is said to have been changed 
into wine on the memorable occasion, be so considered. 
The Greek priest, who was a slovenly-looking fellow, had 
not the modesty of the superior of the convent at Naza- 
reth; but, with great confidence in the full agreement of our 
faith with his own, which it is certain he could not have 

A A 



354 TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA, 

derived from reading the Scriptures, pointed out to us a 
cylindrical vessel set against the wall, of the height of 
between three and four feet from the ground, with a 
bowl carved at the top, of about eight or ten inches in 
depth, and without any passage for the liquid to be 
drawn off ; we could not, however, forget that it is 
written that there were six water-pots, containing two 
or three firkins, each filled by the wine which Jesus com- 
manded should be drawn from the bowl. 

After passing the higher hills that shelter Nazareth, the 
face of the country becomes again as fair and green as in 
the beautiful vale in which the holy family resided, 
and as we proceeded we had many distant views which 
resembled some of the fairer portions of France. 

From one of the higher elevations, as we advanced, we 
obtained the first view of the memorable Sea of Galilee, 
forming a beautiful lake. The surrounding scenery now 
appeared varied by different colours of high and low 
lands, and contrasted to great advantage with the frightful 
aspect of the country about the Dead Sea. There is no 
hill here without some show of fertility, no vale without 
vegetation, and few hills or valleys that are not fairly 
cultivated. 

Descending from the hills which command the view of 
the sea and its coasts on either side, we first came within 
sight of the ancient city of Tiberias, and, in less than an 
hour after this, we entered the middle gate on the opposite 
side from the sea. 

A sufficiently fair idea may be at this time given of 
Tiberias, by saying that it is a perfect ruin ; yet it is not an 
entire waste of rubbish heaped upon rubbish, and of co- 
lumns lying beside columns, like many of its sister towns 
of equal antiquity and celebrity, where the few miserable 
dwellings of the present day are made up of the wrecks of 



NAZARETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE. 355 

a past age. It is in that stage of ruin, from the effects of 
time, and from convulsions of the earth, which has left 
some portion of many of its edifices still standing, though 
forsaken. The base of the entire walls may be still seen, 
though there is not a hundred yards at any part of them 
that does not afford evidence of the terrible effects of the 
earthquakes by which they have been shaken and broken, 
but not utterly destroyed. It is the type of the moral 
condition of a fallen kingdom, not without its history, 
but whose firmest institutions have perished, and left 
nothing more remaining than the shadow of its ancient 
glory. 

We rode through its gloomy streets without seeing a 
house entire, yet there were a very few ways wholly 
obstructed by the remains of the buildings. But we did 
not see twenty inhabitants. Some of those with whom 
we conversed, informed us that during the last earth- 
quake, which was within the memory of several still 
living, seven hundred persons perished. A portion of 
the town near the sea had sunk considerably, so that 
the waters reached to half the height of the walls of the 
flanking towers by which the town had been formerly 
defended. An hour satisfied our curiosity concerning this 
the most remarkable ruin which during our travels it fell 
to our lot to visit. 

From Tiberias we followed the coast for a short dis- 
tance in the direction of the south, when we found some 
fishermen mending their nets, and near whom we en- 
camped on the strand. While our tents were being 
set, and arrangements made for the night, we seated 
ourselves upon the stony beach to contemplate what 
had passed on the waters before us, now too calm for us 
to realise one of the more important events related in the 
Scriptures, which may have happened upon the very spot 

A A 2 



356 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



upon which we gazed. Was it not, at least, this vicinity 
that the Messiah chose for the greater part of His teach- 
ing ? Was it not upon the coasts of this sea that His 
doctrines first obtained credence and took the earliest 
root ? and was it not from the inhabitants of this coast 
that He selected His disciples, destined to be the his- 
torians of His life, and to record the simple faith and 
pure system of morals which He taught ? But it is not 
necessary to dwell upon events which have been made 
familiar to our thoughts by our earliest teaching. 

We had not been long seated, when the fishermen, who 
were Mussulmans, came towards us, and, after inquiring 
our wishes, walked into the sea and threw their nets, 
for our satisfaction. There was an interest, indeed, in 
seeing these men of Galilee employed in the same avoca- 
tion by which the disciples of Jesus on the same sea had 
obtained their living, but of which these honest Arabs 
had doubtless little conception. We aided them as goocl- 
humouredly as we could in drawing their nets, and we 
presently hauled a draught of fishes of several species 
common to the sea, and doubtless the same that inhabited 
these memorable waters when Jesus made this the scene 
of His earlier conversions. 

I have never found men of any rank or class, in any 
country, with whom a guarded familiarity did not in- 
crease rather than diminish that respect which is often 
useful for travellers to acquire and cherish, and in many 
cases inconvenient to want. Thus, after we had selected 
from the draught of fishes, some that seemed to us to be 
the best, we sat down with our new friends upon the 
beach, and held a little discourse which much interested 
us, and seemed to be agreeable to the fishermen themselves. 
We inquired of them in particular concerning their know- 
ledge of the memorable events in the Christian history, 



NAZAKETH AND THE SEA OF GALILEE. 



357 



of wliicli the shores on which we sat, and the sea from 
which they drew the chief part of their food, were the 
scene ; and they appeared to have a general acquaint- 
ance with that portion of history, which they did not 
hesitate to confess. Moreover, they pointed out to us, on 
the opposite side of the sea, which is six miles hi breadth 
and about twelve in length, a mountain which they said 
was that where it was believed Jesus, of whom they spoke 
with respect, fed the multitude, by a miraculous increase, 
from the two loaves and two fishes ; and while they spoke 
they seemed in doubt whether the miracle belonged to 
their own creed. 

We inquired of them why they did not use a boat for 
fishing, but they replied that the sea was much troubled 
with tempests, which would render it necessary to keep 
any craft they might use always on the beach, except 
when in actual use, and there they could not help its 
rotting. The fishermen at the town, however, they said, 
had a boat, which was the only one upon the lake, and 
was seldom put afloat. We asked them with what glu- 
tinous matter the citizens covered their boat after it was 
caulked, to which they replied that they knew of nothing 
by which the wood might be with any advantage covered. 

The air, as the sun declined, was calm, and the sea 
was without a ripple to disturb the perfect stillness that 
reigned, and there was no indication of the existence of 
any habitations or works of men's hands, beyond the 
leaning towers of Tiberias, half-buried in the sea, and the 
broken and tumbling walls of the town. Nevertheless, 
the melancholy which the almost abandoned coasts of 
Galilee impress upon the minds of those who behold 
them is not like the overpowering sadness which accom- 
panies the appearance of the gloomy scenery of Judaea. 



358 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



In the language of our northern bard, ' the joy of grief 
is here the uppermost feeling in the mind. 

But evening advanced, and as the light of the sun 
faded away, that of the moon, scarce past the full, 
changed the face of every object around, and we in- 
dulged our undisturbed reflections until the lateness of 
the hour warned us of the necessity of rest, upon which 
we laid down to repose in our tents upon the beach. 



359 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

RETURN TO NAZARETH AND JOURNEY TO BEYROUT. 

Fine Country — Different Eoute — Mount Tabor — Mount Carmel — The Con- 
vent — Supper — The Monks had feared an Attack from the English when 
before Acre — Arrive at Beyrout. 

On the morning after our arrival at the Sea of Galilee, we 
rose early, and again walked upon the beach. We would 
willingly have prolonged our stay, had we not made ar- 
rangements concerning our return, which would have 
caused us some inconvenience to have disregarded ; we 
therefore turned our faces again towards Tiberias, and 
thence towards Nazareth by a different route from that 
which we had travelled on the preceding clay, and when 
we had attained the summit of the hill over which we 
had before passed, we took a road leading directly to- 
wards Mount Tabor, which we had seen at some distance 
before we entered the vale of Nazareth. 

As we proceeded, we came to a gently-undulating coun- 
try, almost covered with the prickly oak, and a variety of 
inferior wild vegetation, among which several flowers were 
luxuriantly growing, the most numerous among which 
were a fine species of the lily. 

We found the country still improving as we approached 
Mount Tabor, but the land here was sparely cultivated. 
During a march of three hours among the oaks which we 
met with as we ascended the mount, we observed the 
ground so profusely covered with vegetation as to leave 



360 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



no doubt of the nature of the soil being equal in quality 
to any we had before seen in Palestine. 

The mountain is dome-like in form, and sprinkled 
with the prickly oak almost to its very summit. The 
scenery, however, was here the same as that we passed 
by before arriving upon the coast of Galilee. 

Before we reached the foot of the mountain, we passed 
through a vale in which were encamped two parties of 
Bedouins, whose cattle were grazing upon the rich pas- 
ture with which the ground was covered, and after this 
we observed the ruins of a town, undoubtedly of great 
antiquity. 

We now advanced to the hills which surround the 
valley and town of Nazareth, where we once more ar- 
rived, and re-entered the convent, at the door of which 
the hospitable superior, who expected us, was waiting to 
make us welcome, and took coffee with us as soon as 
we had dined. 

On the following morning we were prepared for our 
journey towards Mount Carmel, and we quitted the happy 
valley, where the very air which we breathed seemed to 
infuse new life, and where every object in nature, and 
every work of men's hands, inspired the deepest interest. 
The valley of Nazareth is the only spot of Palestine to 
which I have felt a desire to return, and where I have 
thought many strangers might substitute the society of 
the exemplary fathers of the convent, and the ever-living 
associations which every mound and every rock inspire, 
for the most refined society of Europe, with even the 
inherent love of country, which a youth of reverses, and 
a middle-age of wanderings, has not been able in myself 
to extinguish. 

We took the road which conducted us round the hill 
which rises at the back of the town, and were happy that 



RETURN TO NAZARETH AND JOURNEY TO BEYROUT. 361 

the painful feelings which we experienced were not pro- 
longed by a distant view of the holy ground from which 
we unwillingly tore ourselves, and from which we were 
presently separated for ever. It was like the sad yet not 
eternal adieu which we make in our last visit to the 
death-bed of a departing friend. After this we slowly 
regained the composure necessary to perform the cold 
duties of life, and bear the disappointments inseparable 
from our transient and changeful state of existence on 
earth. 

We rode for an hour without making observation of 
the surrounding objects, but as soon as our attention was 
directed to the country about us, we noticed the sterility 
of the hills, the continued fertility of the valleys through 
which we passed, and the carelessness with which the 
land seemed to be cultivated. There were fields of 
wheat and barley everywhere, but generally of such 
stunted growth, and so choked with tall weeds, as to be 
scarcely seen beyond a stone's-throw from the path by 
which we passed. Yet the scenery was varied by the 
presence of the prickly oak, with frequent luxurious beds 
of hollyhock ; and before we came into the lower and 
more fertile country, of which we had for some time a 
wide view, we crossed a long range of hills surmounted 
by Mount Carmel, 

We now came upon an extensive and highly fertile 
plain, generally as badly cultivated as that we had passed 
over on the opposite side of the hills, but we saw patches 
which seemed but newly subjected to the plough after a 
long period of rest, where the grain was growing luxu- 
riantly, upon a soil less encumbered than usual with 
stifling weeds. 

We now approached the village of KahTa, the country 
around which is undulating and fertile, but still badly cul- 



362 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



tivated. Soon after quitting this we entered a rich valley, 
the soil of which appeared to be generally of alluvial 
formation. We then began the long and gradual ascent 
of Mount Carmel, where we found the road one of the 
better of those we had yet seen in Syria. Natural vege- 
tation was growing everywhere around, and as we pro- 
ceeded the view extended to the town and fortress of 
Acre, with the whole range of the plain and undulating 
country terminated by the higher hills which surround the 
cheerful vale we had left on the morning of the same 
day with so many regrets. 

We arrived at Mount Carmel, and entered the convent 
in sufficient time to see the sun drop below the dark line 
of the western horizon over the great waste of waters of 
the Mediterranean Sea, which the front windows of the 
building overlook. The convent is in possession of the 
Greek Church, and the good brothers gave us a friendly re- 
ception, and put us in immediate possession of some of their 
best apartments ; and we had soon evidence that none knew 
better than they the most pressing wants of travellers ; 
for we had hardly turned from the gaudy show of the 
setting sun, which is seen from the windows of an ample 
apartment, before the table was furnished with the good 
wines of the country, to enable us to refresh ourselves 
before performing the necessary ablutions after a journey, 
and await more substantial fare. 

The convent of Mount Carmel is a new and extensive 
stone edifice of the form of a long square, built by alms 
collected chiefly by mendicant friars among the Christians 
of both the Greek and Komish churches. In its construc- 
tion more attention has been paid to solidity than to 
architectural beauty, and its interior arrangements, as far 
at least as concern strangers, were good. The whole 
together was indeed of a character so superior to any- 



RETURN TO NAZARETH AND JOURNEY^ TO BEYROUT. 363 

thing we had seen since quitting Egypt, that we felt this 
exhilarating to the spirits, and well calculated to remove 
the depression with which we had commenced the day. 

We took but little time to make a slight change of 
dress, when the monks summoned us to partake of a 
supper consisting of the chief luxuries of the country, 
and to which we sat down with ample appetites. Some 
of the good brothers, indeed, joined us, and their com- 
pany was especially agreeable, as every one wore an air 
of good-humour and cheerfulness, which seemed as if it 
formed the atmosphere of the mount. One of them 
afforded us much amusement by the simple and serious 
manner in which he informed us of their determina- 
tion and their preparations to defend the convent when 
they expected to be attacked by our ocean warriors after 
the fall of Acre, of which they had witnessed the bom- 
bardment and capture from the windows of the convent. 
It need scarcely here be added, that after we had extolled 
their courage, we thought it proper to remove from their 
artless minds such an unfavourable impression as they 
seemed to have entertained of British heroism. 

We slept very soundly during the night in clean and 
neat beds, with bedsteads of iron, and with the rooms 
entirely free from vermin of every description. Even 
the harmless lizard did not seem to have ventured to 
the height of the lofty windows of the rooms we inha- 
bited, or else had feared to enter them. 

In the morning the monks conducted us to visit the 
chapel of the convent, which is more simple and elegant 
than the chapels of the Eoman or Greek fathers in 
general. In a room on the left side of the altar there 
were several good paintings, and behind the altar there 
were three relievos appropriate to the place. One of 
these represented the prophet Elijah telling the prophets 



364 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



of Baal to cry aloud to their deaf divinity ; a second 
pictured the sacrifice offered by Elijah ; and the third 
represented the prophet of the Lord in the act of slaying 
the false prophets as they fled before him ; and beneath 
the altar was a full statue of Elijah. 

We were indebted to the monks for another exhibi- 
tion of the Greek church before we quitted the chapel. 
While we were all turned towards the altar, one of the 
brothers, after bending the knee and making the sign of 
the cross before its sacred symbols, too ready to make 1 
his own thoughts ours, jumped upon the step which 
made the foreground, and drew a string which led to a 
grand veiled niche over the altar, which we had not before 
observed ; and, with the rapidity of thought, a curtain 
was drawn, and a full statue of the virgin, with the child 
Jesus in her arms, stood exposed. The figures appeared 
to be of wax, and were exquisitely dressed in richly em- 
broidered satins or silks, and the virgin's robe was girdled 
and flounced, not unlike the gowns of the European 
ladies of the present day. The expression upon the child's 
countenance surpassed every such representation that I 
had seen, save that only of Eaphael's at the Vatican, and 
the whole appearance of the mother seemed to me more 
imposing than anything I had seen in any other land of 
the virgin's suppliants and adorers ; and, if a second in- 
tercessor were necessary for us in heaven, it would per- 
haps excuse both assigning the office to the virgin 
mother by the Greek and Eoman Churches, and also the 
representation of her sanctity, robed after the manner of 
the most gracious European ladies. 

Upon the day after our arrival at the convent of Mount 
Carmel, we quitted the hospitable abode of the monks for 
the fortress of Acre. We rode along the sandy sea 
beach, beneath which 6 the ribs of many a tall ship lie 



RETURN TO NAZARETH AND JOURNEY TO BEYROUT. 365 



buried ; ' and the spot was pointed out to us where one 
of Her Majesty's ships had been wrecked, and the re- 
mains of which had been handsomely given to the 
monks of Mount Carmel, who had not long before 
thought the cannon-balls from her batteries the most 
probable present they might receive from the English. 

Early in the afternoon we arrived at the town and once 
strong fortress of Acre, now in complete ruins. We 
found here, however, a convent, but it appeared to us to 
be the dirtiest and most incommodious of all we had yet 
entered ; we, therefore, determined not to stay the night 
if we could obtain any sort of vessel to transport us to 
Beyrout ; and as we were successful in hiring a boat, we 
dismissed the useless portion of our cavalcade, embarked 
the same evening, and arrived at Beyrout about the same 
hour the following day. 

Of Beyrout I shall say but little more than I have said 
of Acre. It is the most considerable port of Syria, and 
its bay is the station of our men-of-war upon the coast. 
It is the emporium of the silks, spices, and other precious 
articles of merchandise, which find their way from 
Damascus and Bagdad, and in exchange for which arrive 
here cottons and the fine wares of Europe, the greater part 
of which come from our island. In spite of this com- 
merce, the town itself consists of mean dwellings, forming" 
irregular and narrow streets ; but it is surrounded by the 
habitations and gardens of men who have amassed wealth 
enough to withdraw themselves from the interior of the 
town. 



366 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

JOURNEY TO THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 

An agreeable Village — The Mountains — Curiosity of the People — Two 
agreeable Christian Maronite Families. 

On the morning of May 24, we left Beyrout for the 
Lebanon and Damascus. We now travelled with a lighter 
caravan than we had before employed, having only four 
horses and six mules. On quitting the town we ascended 
by lanes which passed through the quarter occupied by 
the wealthier of the retired inhabitants, which a little 
resemble some portions of the western districts of Eng- 
land, but with the impenetrable prickly pear of slovenly 
growth, in place of the neat hedges of our country. 

After leaving the lanes we came upon an extensive 
plain, at first sandy and exhibiting only wild vegetation, 
consisting chiefly of the stone oak or stone pine, with a 
few graceful pahns. We first halted under the shade of 
a grove of palms, growing high and spreading wide, to 
admire one of the noblest prospects that we had had the 
opportunity of seeing for some time. At one view is here 
beheld the undulating land immediately in advance, covered 
with the rich verdure of the dark mulberry, intermingled 
with the fighter shades of the olive and the fig ; beyond 
which is seen the Lebanon range of high and yet not 
sterile hills, stretching from north to south along this fair 
and fertile portion of Syria. 



JOURNEY TO THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 367 



After about an hour's march, we passed the first village 
which we met with, and in which we remarked more 
neatness than we had seen in any other part of Palestine. 
Many of the houses were united by a common colonnade 
in front, and such of the inhabitants as we saw greeted us 
with more good-humour and familiarity than we had 
generally met with in other parts of the country. 

After leaving this village we found the vegetation be- 
fore mentioned improved by the addition of the vine 
everywhere creeping over the trees and hedges ; and, at 
the distance of three hours' march, while passing over a 
hill of no great height, we obtained a splendid view of an 
extensive plain, with a vast forest of olive-trees, reaching 
from the base of the hill to the sea-shore. 

After four or five hours, we found the hills rocky, 
with patches of soil producing the wild pine and a few 
poplars. But the land again improved as we advanced, 
exhibiting the trimmed mulberry in every stage of the 
growth of its leaves, adapted to suit the succession of 
food necessary to the labours of the silk- worm, to which 
the country owes the greater part of the wealth it pos- 
sesses at the present day. 

After this, we found the hills laboriously terraced al- 
most to their summits, and producing promiscuously the 
fig, the olive, and the mulberry ; while beneath the boughs 
of these, wheat was growing luxuriantly. 

We next crossed a defile in the mountains, through 
which rushes a rapid stream which meets the sea at 
Sidon, and soon after mid- day we came in view of the 
village of Dier el Gamman or Hyeter, and the surround- 
ing country. 

We were now fairly in the Lebanon ; and there is 
perhaps not another site on the whole globe which com- 
mands a more grand yet varied view of many natural 



368 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



objects, mingled with the superb spectacle of royal palaces 
and princely residences, than that which the scene here 
comprehends. As w^e threaded the oblique path which 
leads to the village of Dier el Gamman, we overlooked a 
deep ravine upon our left hand, the opposite side of which 
presented every variety of mountain scenery, with all the 
shades which the richest vegetation of the clime exhibits, 
surrounding the hamlets and scattered habitations of the 
industrious population. Terraces were crowded with 
mulberry-trees, plats of ground were hidden by the 
luxuriant fig and walnut, narrow ravines were black with 
cypress- trees, and the mountain pines which reached to 
the very summits of the hills around, clothed every peak 
and precipice with shades of verdure most grateful to 
the eye when the glare of the sun confounds every 
lesser shade of the plain in one obscure mass of indis- 
tinguishable objects, or where sterility reigns and presents 
only the terrible rudeness of the irreclaimable desert. 

About three miles distant from the spot on which we 
stood to well view the beauty of the scenery before us, 
appeared the grand and truly eastern palace of the Emir 
Beshir, long the ruler of the Sultan's subjects in the 
Lebanon, with the princely residences of some of his 
family and distinguished persons of his court. 

We formed our encampment this afternoon upon a plat 
even with the top of the highest range of the houses of 
the village which was immediately below us, and com- 
manding the whole of the magnificent scenery of the 
mountains on either side the ravine. 

As we were pitching our tents, a number of the in- 
habitants of both sexes and all ages gathered around us, 
and among them were mixed a few Turkish soldiers, to 
whom the people of the village gave place, more from 
fear, it was evident, than from respect. We did not hear 



JOURNEY TO THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 369 



anything said by the soldiers, but the people of the 
village, the greater part of whom were women, all un- 
veiled, seeming to fear committing some act of disrespect 
towards us, demanded very cautiously of our servants the 
questions most natural in their situation concerning us — 
the country from which we came, and our objects in 
mounting the Lebanon ; but the curiosity, especially of 
the women, was most excited by the presence of the 
lady of our party, who was the first European of their 
sex whom they had seen. 

As soon as we had our appurtenances under cover, we 
endeavoured to find a convenient place for our fair com- 
panion to make a sketch of a portion of the scenery by 
which we were surrounded. We walked from the en- 
campment to the precipitous side of the hill, from which 
we stepped upon the roof of one of the houses beneath 
us, and advancing to the front side, we looked down upon 
a high-walled, square court or roofless apartment, partially 
shaded by the leaves of a vine, the main stalk of which 
grew in the middle of the court and shot its runners to 
the tops of the walls around. The sun had sufficiently 
declined to withdraw his rays from this outer apartment 
of the agreeable residence, and the family appeared to 
have left all the inner apartments for the enjoyment of 
the fresher air without ; and as we looked through the 
open branches of the wide-spreading vine, we perceived 
a domestic circle of both sexes, reclining upon carpets 
spread upon a floor of marble of varied colours, in the 
enjoyment of the eastern substitutes for our more active 
pleasures ; for by the stump of the vine stood a small 
Arab table about eighteen inches high, inlaid with 
mother-of-pearl, and upon this stood the never-wanting 
coffee-pot of silver, while the reclining party were sipping 
the beverage from their little cups, which were handed 

B B 



370 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



by a domestic, and at the same time all smoking the 
tchebook or the narghil. 

From being the observed of all observers we had been 
quite accidentally transported to the top of the roofed 
apartments of this family, to be the unseen observers of 
the manner in which they were passing the evening in 
their wide court below, and we could not think it any 
unpardonable breach of good manners to enjoy for a time 
a scene so novel and pleasing to us. We had not much 
time, however, to enjoy the agreeable view we were 
taking, before the noise made by some children who had 
followed us, attracted the notice of one of the ladies be- 
neath, who, by a natural exclamation of surprise, directed 
the attention of the rest of the party towards us, and thus 
the charm was broken. Yet, some doubts which we 
naturally entertained, whether we had not been com- 
mitting a breach of the customs of the land, were soon 
put aside ; for, instead of the ladies covering their faces as 
if a basilisk regarded them, and running away to hide 
their persons from our sight, as would have been the case 
with Mussulman women, they rose upon their feet with 
the men, whom they joined in giving us a pressing invita- 
tion to descend and enjoy the tchebook and the narghil in 
their company. 

Our gratification at this invitation induced us to descend 
immediately, and we were met at the door of the open 
space by the patriarch of the family, and one or two 
young men, behind whom stood some half-dozen fair 
ladies unveiled, and dressed in their accustomed splendid 
costume of white spotted muslin with richly-embroidered 
bodies, and with head-dresses of the same material, from 
which hung long tresses half-way down the back, spangled 
with gold coins amid precious stones. 

We were scarcely all reclined upon the carpets upon 



JOURNEY TO THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 371 



the marble floor, wlien the tchebook and narghil were 
handed to us, and after these carne coffee, which was 
presented — it must not remain untold — to the gentlemen 
before it was offered to the lady. I passed my cup, of 
course, to our fair companion, which induced the good 
folks to suppose I had refused it, and caused a momentary 
sensation, not, perhaps, unlike that which the refusal of a 
lady to take wine with one of the other sex might have 
created, not many years since, at a dinner-table in Eng- 
land. But this impression was doubtless very well removed 
by my asking for another cup, which I thought better 
than saying anything that might give rise to a discussion 
concerning national usages. 

After an hour spent in conversation as agreeable as 
could be carried on through an interpreter, we took leave 
of this charming family and returned to our tents. 

The next morning we searched again for a site for the 
lady with us to take a sketch of some of the prominent 
features of the scenery around. We crossed the ruins of 
some buildings destroyed during the late war carried on by 
these good Maronites and the Druses, and entered by a 
door that stood open into the unroofed court of a house, 
where we found nobody ; but before we had time to look 
around us, several of the fair sex appeared, and imme- 
diately offered us the most sincere welcome, and, upon 
hearing that we wished to ascend to the terrace above 
them, two or three of the ladies jumped upon the stone 
steps that conducted to the roof of the house, and desired 
us to follow, and we soon found ourselves upon the very 
site for which we were in search, and Madame lost no 
time in placing herself upon the pavement of the terrace 
and commencing her sketch. This was no sooner begun, 
however, before the best signs of welcome, both coffee 
and the tchebook, were served, and the curiosity of the 

B B 2 



372 TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 

ladies became great concerning all the little appendages 
to drawing which lay by the side of the European lady. 
They handled them carefully, but they asked so many 
questions that the lady drawing was often called upon to 
suspend her labours, so that she had not yet far ad- 
vanced with her sketch when our dinners at our tents 
were announced, upon which we descended from the 
terrace, and after promising to conform to an invitation 
which was given us to return the following morning 
for the completion of the drawing, we bade them, for 
the present, adieu. 



373 



CHAPTEE XLV. 

SECOND VISIT TO THE MAEONITE FAMILY. 

Mirth among the Party — Examination of Lady L. — Attack upon Myself on 
account of my Celibacy — Remarks upon the Syrian Women — The Horns 
they Wear — Return to our Encampment — Visit from the Maronite Ladies 
— Joy of one especially at finding we were Christians. 

The day after the European lady had commenced her 
sketch, we came again to the same terrace at an early 
hour, where we met the same reception as on the pre- 
ceding day, and the lady now finished her labours. We 
then descended, and entered the apartment below, where 
we found quite a family assembled to receive us. The apart- 
ment was large and well furnished with low divans and 
carpets, and we were invited to recline upon the divans, 
while several of the younger of the native ladies seated 
themselves at the feet of the lady of our party — the grand 
object of their wonder and curiosity — and they expressed 
themselves full of admiration at the courage and enter- 
prise of the first European of their sex whom they had 
seen. But our fair fellow-traveller was presently placed 
in a situation that not every heroine would have envied, 
but which I must not omit to mention. 

The native houses of the character of that which we 
had entered, are usually inhabited by either two families 
or three of the same descent, and, in the present in- 
stance, the somewhat disconnected suits of apartments 
were occupied by three families, all of whom were more 



374 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



or less under the authority of the good parent of the most 
ancient family. This patriarch of the whole household 
was present, and among five or six men of different ages, 
and double that number of women, one of the married 
grand-daughters of the patriarch, who was pretty and 
young, was the chief leader of the conversation on the 
part of the Maronites, and foremost in the mirth which 
our manners, our costumes, which were half-Arab and 
half-European, and such of our opinions as they elicited, 
caused the whole party. Seated at the feet of our fair 
companion, she made many remarks concerning her, 
which the translations we obtained enabled us to discover 
were all good-natured ; but as soon as she perceived the 
merry humour into which her observations had put us, 
she proceeded to a more minute examination of her fair 
guest. She first took her hands in her own ; and these, 
it must be confessed, were so burned by the sun (for the 
attire which she wore did not admit gloves), that they 
were almost of Egyptian tint, and detracted a little from 
their superior form. She next turned up her guest's 
sleeves, and then broke into raptures at the colour of her 
skin and the proportions of her well-formed arms. But 
she was yet more full of ecstacy when her guest herself 
removed her head-dress and exposed her quantity of hair, 
with all the gloss and firmness which is common to the 
ladies in Europe. 

After this close inspection of the lady with us by the 
fair Maronite, my friend and myself expressed a strong 
desire to know the opinion of all present concerning the 
beauty of the subject of their curiosity ; upon which they 
all broke out in expressions of admiration, the plainest of 
which appeared to be £ gowee guayis ' — very beautiful. 

The fair Maronite, knowing who was the husband of 
the European lady, after looking attentively at myself, 



SECOND VISIT TO THE MAEONITE FAMILY. 



375 



and turning her eyes back again upon the lady, asked 
why I had not brought my wife also, there being hardly 
known such a thing among any people in the East as a 
man suffering from the painful celibacy which many of us 
endure in Britain, and she would hardly believe my con- 
fession of having no conjugal partner, or of the existence 
of the lone class with whom she was told it was my 
misfortune to be numbered in my own land, until she was 
firmly assured of its reality. 

The little pleasantness which thus took place had so 
much engaged every one's attention, that the coffee, which 
stood upon the low Arab table without our circle, had 
been waiting a change of scene, when the young Maronite 
wife, evidently in pain at the confusion she had caused 
her fair guest, and perhaps also at the shame she may 
have believed she had put upon the unmarried Briton, 
seized the occasion to divert our thoughts ; and, rising 
and stepping gracefully to the table, she took up one of 
the cups and was approaching myself, when it was evident 
that what she had witnessed the day before had occurred 
to her mind, and she appealed to our dragoman to know 
to whom the agreeable beverage should be first handed, 
and being answered, she gave a very sly look towards her 
grand-parents as she presented the coffee to our lady ; 
but her countenance, it was plain, showed more delight at 
the honour paid her sex, than of triumph over the male 
part of the company present. 

This led to some inquiries on the part of both the 
women and the men concerning our domestic customs, 
and all the fair Maronites expressed rather surprise than 
admiration at the description we endeavoured to give 
them of our family usages. The good patriarch was not 
the least attentive of the company to our discourse, but 
he did not attempt himself to make any inquiries. 



376 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



Upon his countenance there was great benignity ap- 
parent, which we thought indicated his sense of the 
superiority of the British customs, and the absence of 
any jealousy at our attempt to show our advantages 
above those which the eastern people generally think 
become the highest condition to which man can arrive 
upon earth. 

I would not pass by this opportunity of one or two 
remarks upon the women of Syria in general, and of 
those in particular which inhabit these mountains, de- 
rived from such observations only as were made during 
my tour through the country. 

To a European arriving from Egypt, where the sight 
of even the tawny features of the women of that clime 
is a privilege he is rarely permitted to enjoy, the unveiled 
Christian women of Syria cannot be less than in a high 
degree attractive. The complexion of the fair sex gene- 
rally is a near approach to that of the women of Italy, 
but those who dwell in these mountains have generally 
quite the fair skin of our island, with a clearness and 
transparency such as I have never heard described, and 
never found existing elsewhere. Their eyes are, for the 
greater part, hazel-coloured, of the darkest hue, with 
very beautiful arched narrow eyebrows, and long eye- 
lashes. They have small mouths and lips, and if there be 
anything to which a European might object in the 
general cast of the features of the fair Syrian face, it is a 
slight tendency to the Eoman form of the prominent 
feature, which would give a masculine outline, if it were 
not for the delicacy of the rest of the features, They 
plat their hair, which often covers the back as low as the 
waist, and is sometimes so spangled with the gold coins of 
the country as to wear the appearance of male armour 
rather than feminine ornament, In-doors, they are grace- 



SECOND VISIT TO THE MARONITE FAMILY. 377 

ful and quick, and walk well ; but when they appear 
abroad they are almost wholly enveloped in a shawl, 
which passes over a high horn upon the head, and, held 
by both hands, conceals all but a portion of the face ; 
upon their feet are red slippers, without heels, and worn 
over yellow boots, which cause an awkward motion of 
the body, from the necessity of shuffling as they move 
to keep on the slippers, and destroy a great portion of 
the grace by which nature has favoured them. 

But the head-ornament of the fair Maronites, which 
every reader of the Bible will remember was worn by the 
most ancient people, is of the most extravagant kind that 
ever came into the minds of the women of any country 
to invent. It can be compared to nothing but the horn of 
the fabulous animal that confronts the king of the beasts 
in our royal arms. It consists of a hollow tube, usually 
of silver, from about eighteen inches to two feet in 
length, is about three or four inches in diameter at the 
lower end, and about two inches at the upper, and is 
placed upon the head with the small end inclining a little 
forwards from the perpendicular. Over this exalted 
ornament is placed a handkerchief or a shaAvl, which ties 
about the throat to secure the horn. It is only worn out- 
of-doors, or during any especial ceremony within ; but 
while we were in the Lebanon the Maronite women had 
not yet repaired the loss of a great number of their horns, 
which had been plundered by the Druses in a late attack 
upon their villages, and those who had not lost their 
highly-prized ornaments had buried them in the ground, 
where they intended them to remain until a period of 
greater security than they yet enjoyed should arrive. A 
young man, however, of the family dug up one from the 
lower chambers of the house, to exhibit to us, and a 
Maronite damsel put it on, covered as described. 



378 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



As our arrangements did not permit a longer stay with 
our new friends, we informed them of the necessity of our 
departure, and requested we might be allowed to take 
leave of them in the manner peculiar to our country, 
by shaking them all by the hand, which, with their 
ready consent, we did very heartily as we bade them 
adieu. 

We now returned to our encampment, which we found 
surrounded by the villagers. We entered our tents, 
however, and took our breakfast while the mules were 
being loaded ; and when we came out, to allow of the 
tents being lifted, we found the number of the curious 
among the mountaineers had increased to a crowd. 

But while we were still waiting for the completion of 
the arrangements for our departure, some of the elder of 
the women of our two days' acquaintance broke through 
the crowd, and approached us with their hands full of 
flowers, and requested us to accompany them a part of 
the way towards their dwelling in order to be introduced 
to some ladies we had not yet seen ; and, when we con- 
sented, one of them took the lady of our party by the 
hand, and led her, as the gentlemen followed, to a grove of 
trees that were out of sight of the crowd, no part of whom, 
except some children, having followed us. Here we met 
the acquaintances of our friends, and the scene became of 
the most exciting kind. The ladies whom we now saw 
for the first time, touched the hands of our fair fellow- 
traveller as they presented their flowers, while our 
earlier acquaintances asked us several questions which, 
being without any dragoman, we could only discover to 
be such by the natural action and tone of voice which 
accompanied their words. Suddenly a fine-looking 
Eoman-countenanced matron opened the shawl which 
bound the horn which she wore, and placing herself in 



SECOND VISIT TO THE MARONITE FAMILY. 



379 



front of the lady with us, made the sign of the cross upon 
her breast, which at once opened our eyes, and the 
European lady immediately drew the same symbol of the 
Christian faith, which the gentlemen also repeated. On 
this the matronly dame threw back her horn, and 
seizing the European lady in her arms, kissed her on both 
sides of the face and embraced her with much warmth, 
while all the rest of her party kissed her hands, or clasped 
their own, and uttered exclamations, which it was impos- 
sible not to discover were those of unbounded joy to find 
that the religion in which they persevere, in despite of all 
worldly disadvantages, had spread to the most distant 
parts of the earth, from which they believed we came. 

After now taking a second leave of the Maronite ladies, 
we returned to the spot where we had slept, mounted 
our horses, and joined the caravan which was already in 
motion. 



380 



CHAPTEE XLVL 

TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 

The Emir Beshir's Palace — Turkish Soldiers— A Major's Drawing — The 
Colonel commanding — Agreeable Conversation — The Apartments of the 
Emir. 

UroN joining our caravan, after taking leave of the 
Maronite ladies, we rode through the village of the 
Lebanon, and commenced the descent towards the valley 
before us by a winding path. From this we obtained a 
nearer prospect of the palace of the Emir, and the beau- 
tiful environs which surround it. The space that the eye 
now compassed combined one gay scene, such as it is 
impossible that the happiest visions of fancy could alone 
create. Steps which are formed upon the side of the 
mountain up to near the summit, were covered with the 
rich foliage of the mulberry-tree, at this time in the deep 
green of summer, and upon every plat the fig and the 
mountain oak were seen in their full luxuriance ; while 
the white foam of a rapid torrent appeared amidst the 
darkest shades of the mountain vegetation, pouring down 
a deep ravine or falling perpendicularly from the rocky 
cliffs, to find its way to the stream which was seen wind- 
ing its course between the mountains towards the sea, 
which it meets at Sidon. 

When we reached the bottom of the valley, we 
despatched the mules by the more direct way between 
the mountains, and with our horses we ascended the 



TKAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



381 



opposite hills by the road which led to the palace of the 
proper ruler of the Lebanon. The way was stony, but 
superior to those which are generally found in moun- 
tainous districts, and by noon we reached the palace, 
where we found a guard of Turkish troops. We had, 
however, no difficulty in entering, nor any delay save 
such as travellers meet before passing into any garrisoned 
castle ; such, indeed, was now the condition of this the 
proper family residence and princely abode of the chief of 
all this country, but now converted into a mere barrack, 
while the superb apartments of the Emir had become the 
quarters of the soldiers of the Sultan, and the harem was 
defiled by the riots of the military enemies of the Prince 
of the Lebanon and his people. 

The Emir Beshir, whom the treaty of peace transferred 
from our protection at Malta into the Sultan's hands, was 
still at Constantinople with his son, the heir of his rights ; 
but the grandson of the Emir and his family occupied a 
smaller palace in the vicinity of the larger, and we visited 
them before we quitted the mountain. 

Under the conduct of a sergeant, we first passed the 
great gates of the larger palace and entered an open 
square, cooled and adorned by fountains set in a large 
marble cistern placed in the centre. On two sides of the 
square there were colonnades and small apartments, and 
the superior apartments of the Emir, when there, were on 
the third side ; while on the fourth there was an open 
terrace, with a parapet, commanding the view of the 
opposite mountain, including the village from which the 
lady of our party had taken her sketch, and the mighty 
ravine through which the waters of the river before men- 
tioned flow to the sea. 

After passing the open square, we were led to the 
quarters of the major on duty, and we found this officer 



382 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



sitting upon his heels, after the Turkish mode, upon a 
low divan. He was occupied in examining accounts with 
a Greek, who was the assistant physician of the garrison, 
and he received us with the cool carelessness of a Turk, 
without rising or making the accustomed salaam of the 
country, yet with the words, which indeed we more 
valued, in our own native tongue : 4 How do you do ? ' 
The Greek then requested, in the major's name, that we 
would seat ourselves upon the divan opposite, and a con- 
versation was begun in English ; but we soon found the 
gallant Turk's stock of words insufficient for its con- 
tinuance in our tongue, and we were glad to avail our- 
selves of the Greek's aid in interpreting the French 
language, which we used, into the native tongue of the 
Turk. 

But the few words of English that the major had pro- 
nounced upon our entering his quarters naturally led to 
inquiries on our part respecting his travels, and by what 
means he had obtained any acquaintance with our lan- 
guage ; and we were surprised to find that he had been 
at school at Woolwich while young, and spent four years 
in England. He, however, excused his deficiency in our 
tongue by informing us that during the last two years he 
had scarcely heard or had occasion to speak a single word 
in English, which had almost obliterated a very fair 
knowledge which he had of the language when he left 
England. But in order to show us the advance that he 
had made in his studies, he desired the Greek to reach 
from a shelf the only two books he had at present with 
him, and these were the ' English Spelling Book ' and 
4 Peter Parley's Tales,' both of which he said he had 
studied attentively. 

After this he informed us that he had been present at 
Queen Victoria's coronation, of which he spoke in terms, 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



383 



if his words were well rendered, of perfect enthusiasm 
for a Turk. 

Our conversation turned to the subject of courts and 
forms of government in the European nations in gene- 
ral ; but, as we found we had all the talk to ourselves, 
we discussed the progress of the fine arts in the 
East and the West, in which we found we had touched 
the right string, for the very mention of the fine arts 
seemed to arouse the brave soldier ; and when we men- 
tioned the talent which the lady with us had just exer- 
cised in drawing the very palace where we now found 
ourselves, he jumped upon his feet and reached a roll of 
paper, which he laid open before us, in full confidence of 
its displaying his own excellence in the same art. 

The picture which the major now exposed was a 
coloured drawing taken by him from the hill on the op- 
posite side of the valley, near the spot from which we 
obtained the view above mentioned, and it was without 
exception the drollest specimen of the fine arts that either 
of us had ever seen. The ample drawing was laid out 
upon the ground before us, and our heads were bent over 
it for some minutes before it was possible for either of us 
to discover what in the world it could be intended to 
represent. It became, however, apparent that a palace 
and wide pleasure-grounds were represented ; but there 
was so little distinction between the stone shafts of the 
columns of the palace and the bodies of the trees flourish- 
ing on the front ground, that the trees that were near the 
palace were confounded with the architecture of the 
building, so that, if it had not been for the gay colours 
which represented the heads of the trees, it would have 
been difficult to discover the difference between a mul- 
berry-tree and a stone column. Moreover, the per- 
spective of the picture generally very much resembled 



384 TEAYELS IN EGYPT AND SYKIA. 

that in some of the Chinese drawings, where the most 
distant objects shine in the deepest colours and occupy 
the greater number of inches in the piece. But what 
was it possible for us to say when the eye rested upon 
certain details in the picture ? And here I must assure 
the reader there is no exaggeration in what I am writing. 

CO o 

To have mistaken a deer sleeping beneath a fig-tree for a 
milch cow might not have seemed very monstrous ; but 
when what we had taken for a sprawling camel proved 
to be a delicate gazelle, and what would have passed 
very well for a hyama or wild boar, turned out to be 
a sheep, Gravity was not able to maintain her equa- 
nimity without a painful effort. What could Ave have 
done, had not the painter been his own showman, and 
with the most happy foresight anticipated the questions 
we could not have ventured to ask, by naming the more 
prominent objects in the picture ? The lady of our party, 
however, that we might not seem wholly silent concerning 
the peculiar beauties of the painting, pointed out some 
right lines which represented certain portions of the 
palace, and observed that these were drawn with great 
precision, and seemed to her, as far as her memory of the 
view could carry her, to be extremely exact, which much 
gratified the major. 

The good officer had at least reason to be pleased 
with the attention w^e gave to the details of his drawing, 
which he now rolled up and replaced with a satisfaction 
which was agreeable to us to witness. He then informed 

o 

us that he had just despatched a copy of it to the Sultan, 
and that although he confided in the judgment of his 
sovereign for his royal approbation of one of his officer's 
progress in the fine arts, yet he waited in anxious expec- 
tation, on account of the work being a little deviation 
from the law of the Koran, which, like that of the 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON". 



385 



Pentateuch, forbids good Mussulmans making the likeness 
of any living thing whatever. But we told him that we 
thought he need have little fears on that head, which 
agreed very well, as we learned, with his brother officers' 
opinions, though we may conclude not precisely upon the 
same grounds. 

After this exhibition we had some conversation with 
the soldier concerning his opinions of the condition of 
society and the general advancement of the people in 
Europe, as compared with the same advantages in the 
East generally, and we found him ready to allow us to 
be in advance of the Eastern people, not only in science 
and the arts, but even in morals, which is, however, cer- 
tainly not the opinion of good Mussulmans in general. 

We made some inquiries concerning the chief duties 
of the Turkish soldiers in the Lebanon, which he in- 
formed us were the suppression of the feuds and deso- 
lating wars between the Maronites and the Druses. He 
informed us also that they had then 5,000 Turkish 
soldiers in the mountains, 1,500 of whom garrisoned the 
palace itself ; and that during the reign of the Emir 
Beshir the country was tranquil, but that after his 
departure, until the arrival of the Turks in sufficient 
force, the wars between the two rival people had been 
carried on, accompanied with the most frightful bar- 
barities ; and he confirmed what we had heard before, 
that even the women among the Maronites fought with 
desperation in defence of their dwellings, which had not 
long since been attacked in several villages and plundered 
and destroyed by the Druses, but that since the arrival 
of the present force the feuds had been suppressed. 
Moreover, he informed us that the Turks had lately had 
an engagement with the Druses, who he described as 
usually the aggressors in the native wars, and that the 



386 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



troops of the Sultan had killed 600 of their enemy with 
only the loss of twenty Turks ; but he confessed the 
superiority gained by the soldiers over these brave but 
disorderly mountaineers was the natural result of their 
discipline, 

While we were thus engaged, a sergeant janizary an- 
nounced the desire of the Colonel commanding in the 
Lebanon that we would visit him in his bedroom at his 
quarters, as he was too unwell to receive us in any 
other apartment, to which we of course readily con- 
sented. The major, the doctor, and a guard of honour 
attended us, and we found the turbaned commandant 
sitting upon the edge of his bed, after the manner of the 
orientals upon their divans, and wrapped in a superb 
coloured shawl. As we entered we received each sepa- 
rately the accustomed salaam of the Turk, whose hand 
was first laid upon the heart and then upon the forehead, 
which we returned. The colonel then requested us to 
take our seats upon a divan opposite the bed, when we 
received from him the warmest compliments of a good 
reception, accompanied with orders to all present to 
facilitate the accomplishment of every wish we should 
express as long as we remained in the palace ; after 
which he turned to us and added what scarce needed the 
Greek's aid to enable us to comprehend — that he hoped 
that our stay would not be less than some days. 

We acknowledged the attention and kindness of the 
commandant, with many regrets that our arrangements 
did not permit us to remain more than a few hours at 
the palace, which the colonel said was the more painful 
to him as his state of health did not permit him to 
entertain us in the manner he was desirous of doing. 
Coffee and tchebook were now, however, brought, and 
our conversation took the natural turn which our 



TEAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



387 



relative position to each other suggested. The colonel, 
with as much curiosity as a European might have felt 
concerning the amusements of the ladies in the harem, 
desired to know the feelings of the lady with us upon 
what she had seen and felt during the arduous journey 
we had accomplished, and especially in those parts of it 
which were the most dangerous. 

The lady replied in words few and fitting ; but her 
partner added, to completely satisfy the inquiries of the 
Turk, that if we might judge by the lady's general 
behaviour, she certainly had exhibited a degree of forti- 
tude far beyond that usually attributed to her sex, and 
this during the whole time we had been travelling. 

The commandant then informed us that the way upon 
which we were now about to enter was perfectly secure, 
or if it had not been so, he would have offered us a com- 
petent escort for the remainder of our journey ; and, in 
return, we expressed our surprise at the order which 
we found established in the Lebanon, so lately a prey to 
discord and civil war. 

The colonel inclined his head in acknowledgment of 
his sense of our remark, and the conversation turned upon 
the comparative capacities of the countries of Europe 
and the countries of Asia, to afford those enjoyments 
which are sometimes the chief pursuits of mankind ; and 
it seemed to be admitted on both sides that every sensual 
pleasure could be in a superior manner enjoyed in the 
East, but that in Europe we had mental pleasures un- 
known in this part, at least, of Asia ; and that if our 
pursuits in acquiring wealth, our struggles for maintenance 
of a certain position among our countrymen, and the 
unquiet condition incident to popular government were 
opposed to the mental tranquillity in which Asiatics in- 
dulged, they tended to stimulate science and the arts, 

c c 2 



3.88 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



which produced the enjoyments that were the substitutes 
among us for the pleasures of the East, Moreover, it 
was agreed that the pleasures enjoyed in Asia wore out 
by time ; whilst those which we enjoyed, when combined 
with the moral principle of humanity, not only endured 
through life, but, as it seemed both by the Mussulman 
and Christian law, had reference to a future state. 

We thought, as we conversed, that an interest which 
the Turk seemed to take in our account of European 
enjoyments was probably but of transient character, until 
he informed us that what we had said, and the sight of 
a European lady of sufficient enterprise and fortitude to 
undertake and accomplish the journey we had made, had 
increased the desire which he had long had of visiting 
Europe. Then, after contemplating the features and ex- 
pression of our fair companion as she conversed apart, 
he turned to the Greek who was near him, and in an 
under-tone requested him to inquire of myself whether 
the lady that it gave him so much pleasure to see was 
not a great exception to her sex, even in our land of 
action and energy. 

In answer to this I could not say she was not an ex- 
ception, but I related two or three heroic actions regis- 
tered in the female annals of our country, and then 
ventured to observe, in which I trust I did no violence to 
truth, that the instances recorded, afforded the proof they 
could not have in the East, that enterprise was not so 
much a quality of the animal as of the spiritual part of 
our nature, and that the mind was often as much culti- 
vated, with only slight indispensable variation in the 
direction of knowledge, in the women as in the men of 
Europe. 

We now thought it time to apologise for the fatigue 
we must have occasioned the commandant, to which he 



TEAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



389 



replied by further regrets that he was not in a condition 
to entertain us in a manner that he wished to do, and 
added a warm invitation to us, that in case we should 
pass that road on our return, we should spend a few days 
at the palace. 

After these compliments we rose from the divan, made 
our salaam, and proceeded, under the escort of our earlier 
friends, the Major and the Greek, to visit the apartments 
of the palace, which had been the usual dwelling of the 
Emir and his family in the days of their prosperity. 

We first ascended a flight of steps which led to an open 
hall, and then another flight, whence a corridor con- 
ducted to the apartments of the Emir, four only of which 
I shall mention as particularly as the short stay we made 
at the palace allowed me to remember. 

We were here introduced into the harem, which, for 
general arrangement and position, was contrived, both 
with regard to the protection of the ladies and their 
enjoyments, in a manner which excited our praises. But 
the exquisite workmanship of its details, some of which 
were in marble inlaid with ivory, and others of delicately 
carved wood of a variety of kinds and colours, was 
beyond anything we had expected to see. Yet there was 
not at this time any movable furniture in the apartment. 
From this we were led to the chief summer apartment 
of the Emir, which was of smaller dimensions, but the 
workmanship displayed within it even surpassed that of 
the harem itself. The floor and the divans were of the 
most precious marble of Italy, but there was here also no 
movable furniture. 

Erom this we were conducted to the refreshment 
chamber. This apartment is large, and is paved also 
with the marble of Italy. In the centre stands a reser- 
voir of the same material, just high enough to allow 



390 



TRAVELS IN" EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



the elbow of a bystander to rest upon it, and from 
this four fountains throw up four narrow streams, which 
mingle as they break into drops below the curve which 
they form. In the centre, and above the point of union, 
is suspended a fantastic vessel of flowers, which is now 
and then watered by the sparkling element, when it is 
diverted from its course by sudden gusts of air from the 
open windows of the apartments. The parapet also of the 
reservoir is covered with flowers and other cool and 
refreshing symbols. 

Four or five domestics were in attendance, and from 
large glass bottles they poured out sherbet, straining it 
through fine muslin into glasses, which were handed to 
us upon a silver waiter of chaste workmanship, with a 
border of fresh gathered flowers. 

From this we were conducted to the baths, and next 
through the minor offices and apartments of the palace; 
after which the lady with us sat down, under the protec- 
tion of the major, in addition to her usual supporters, 
and, in the exercise of her high talent, made an exact 
drawing of the harem of the Emir Beshir. 

After this we took leave of the major, and proceeded 
to visit one of the younger branches of the Emir's family. 



391 



CHAPTEE XLVIL 

TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON — (continued). 

A Younger Branch of the Emir's Family — The Lebanon Princess' Curiosity 
— Comparison between the Two Ladies — The Lebanon Prince's Politeness 
— A warm Adieu. 

We had received, while we were in the palace of the Emir 
Beshir, an express invitation from the grandson of His 
Highness, who had been permitted by the Grand Seignior 
to remain in the Lebanon with apartments assigned to 
him in the proper hospital of the mountains, where he 
resided with his family as an exile on the very estate of 
his father in his own land, and we were conducted to his 
residence by the doctor, who had already so kindly served 
us for interpreter. 

When we came to their dwelling, the gate was opened 
and we immediately entered the usual quadrangle of a 
considerable Arab building, which was furnished with 
divans and tables ; and here we learned that His Highness 
the Prince was in the enjoyment of the luxurious siesta of 
the East, and that we should have to attend in the open 
apartment until he awoke, unless we particularly desired 
that his slumber should be broken, but that Her Highness 
the Princess would attend in a few minutes ; for, although 
it appeared that she also was asleep, yet as the European 
lady had received a message from her with an express in- 
vitation, the attendants were certain she would wish to be 
awakened, or, indeed, had it been otherwise, it would not 



392 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



have required the same formalities or caution in arousing 
her from her slumber, as seemed to be necessary in regard 
to the Prince. We had therefore but to wait a few 
minutes before the Princess made her appearance, for she 
was no sooner informed of the arrival of the foreign 
lady, than she hastened with just desire rather than mere 
curiosity to see the enterprising traveller of her sex, who 
she had heard had crossed seas, deserts, and mountains, 
and all, as her conversation soon discovered she believed, 
expressly to visit the metamorphosed palace of the Lebanon 
chief. 

She came surrounded by her children and attended by 
her maidens, but although she moved with the slow step 
of state, she broke suddenly upon us, and being unveiled, 
she started for a moment, when, after uttering a natural 
exclamation of surprise, she concealed her features by a 
veil which had been probably just thrown aside. Thus, 
had it not been for this piece of good fortune for the 
gentlemen, the European lady might have been conducted 
to the Princess's private apartment, and we should very 
likely not have seen her hostess. 

The Lebanon Princess, however, soon recovered from 
her fright, and threw aside her veil, for which our 
Greek friend told us we were indebted to the presence of 
the foreign lady. Nevertheless, as already observed, we 
had not before seen any Christians within doors veiled 
since we entered the Lebanon, although the custom is 
universal without doors wherever the Mussulman popula- 
tion prevails. The Princess was young and of extremely 
pleasing manners, and the moment she had gained her 
self-possession, she invited her fair guest to take her seat 
upon the principal divan, and then seated herself beside 
her. She next desired the doctor to express the high grati- 
fication she felt in entertaining so unexpected a visitor, and 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



393 



to ask if her guest would take the tchebook, for she had 
heard that this was not the custom of the ladies in Europe, 
and the hospitality of the East is too delicate to be abso- 
lute or easily offended with the stranger who might not 
choose, or might not be able, to adopt the customs of the 
country ; but being answered, that as her guest had 
adopted the character of a traveller in which she was seen, 
and had yielded to every custom of the countries through 
which she had passed, when they did not seem to her 
essentially vicious, she could smoke the narghil. 

The Princess expressed herself delighted at this infor- 
mation, and the narghil was immediately handed to both 
the ladies, with coffee ; but etiquette did not permit the 
three gentlemen, who might be regarded as intruders in 
the harem, to be put upon the familiar footing which the 
tchebook or narghil supposes. 

As soon as the ladies were well engaged with their ex- 
hilarating pastime, the Princess exhibited great curiosity 
to hear something connected with the travels of her fair 
visitant, the perils especially of the sea and the desert, 
and by what miracle she had acquired the courage and 
fortitude she must possess to overcome the natural defi- 
ciency of her sex for an enterprise which appeared to the 
comprehension of ladies in general full of dangers and 
difficulties too great for one of their sex to surmount. 

To these inquiries, the guest of the Princess gave such 
an account of all she had seen and felt, as filled the Princess 
with delight, who, after warmly expressing her satisfaction, 
declared herself desirous to know something respecting 
the impression made upon the mind of a European lady 
by the inspection of the palace which we had just seen ; 
and such were the raptures which had certainly been 
felt, and such the impression that the novel scene had 
made upon a mind which seemed to have acquired a par- 



394 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



tiality for eastern tastes, that the reply placed the Maronite 
royal residence above many inhabited by sovereigns in 
Enrope. It is, indeed, a fairy habitation, and amidst the 
grandeur of the surrounding scenery, it cannot fail to 
excite the wonder and admiration of all who behold it. 
It is not a mean image, but the sensible embodiment 
of many an airy fabric in the 4 Thousand and Seventy 
Nights.' 

After this the comparative beauty and dress of the 
ladies of the East and the West became the subject of our 
talk, but it did not lead to any remarks on the side of the 
Princess, that left with us much impression. She did not, 
indeed, in my opinion, fully maintain the character which 
we thought her first inquiries and her admiration of the 
heroism of her guest seemed to give promise. 

The three gentlemen sat opposite the Princess ; and, as 
I had not turned my eyes from the contemplation of what 
upon the first appearance seemed strikingly beautiful, I 
am certain, whether it were by design, or accident, or 
coquetry, that Her Highness had not once so much as 
looked in the face of either of the three gentlemen that 
were present, but she appeared all the time occupied with 
the examination of the features and dress of the European 
lady ; and when we tried to draw her attention to such 
subjects respecting our travels and the customs of Europe 
as we thought might the most engage her curiosity, no- 
thing seemed to excite her interest so much as our account 
of the distance at which our home was situated, and the 
painful labours both by sea and land which she conceived 
we must have undergone to arrive at what to her seemed 
the centre of the earth, and the spot the most favoured 
by heaven throughout the wide compass of the terrestrial 
globe. 

The interview, indeed, so far rather disappointed us, 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



395 



and while the lady with us did all in her power to draw 
from the Lebanon Princess what it was certain would 
have given us the greatest interest, the gentlemen were 
witnesses of the existence of the immense gulf which 
separated the two intelligences — the simple understanding 
of the eastern Princess, from the natural and polished 
talents of the lady of whom it would be as ridiculous to 
speak in the language of flattery, as it might be unpardon- 
able to omit the opportunity of such few remarks as 
naturally arise on any occasion so rare. 

The Princess and the European lady were seated side 
by side upon the divan, inhaling the exhilarating vapour 
of the narghil ; but while this occupation was the sole par- 
ticular in which any resemblance could be discovered in 
their deportment, the greatest disparity appeared to exist 
in the thoughts which engaged their minds. While those 
of the Princess were betrayed by the minute examination 
which she made of the features and dress of the European 
lady, the latter seemed to be occupied in an endeavour to 
find out any susceptible point where she might stamp 
some useful impression, one single ray of intellectual light, 
upon the soul of the benign, but apparently little in- 
structed, Princess. 

The amiable lady of the Lebanon was sparkling with 
diversely- wrought ornaments of pearls and precious stones. 
A tiara above her forehead adorned her head with a pro- 
fusion of pearls ; dark-brown tresses, intermingled with 
gold and silver tassels, fell upon her shoulders and about 
her neck ; a richly-embroidered handkerchief was tied 
round her throat, with a gaudy yellow tunic, which did 
not wholly conceal her bosom, and she was girded at the 
waist by a rolled shawl, which appeared sadly in keeping 
with the rest of her ornaments ; but we learned from the 
Prince, not then present, that this was only now worn to 



396 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



conceal the too-apparent approaching accouchement of his 
spouse ; and beneath her tunic appeared the loose trousers 
of the East, tied at the ankles over yellow boots. 

The dress of the European lady was simple, consisting 
of a blue gown, made tight around the waist by a sash, 
loose sleeves, Turkish trousers, and yellow boots, while 
the yellow and red coiffure of the Bedouins, the only 
proper security against the rays of the sun, covered her 
head and hung down on either side and behind, conceal- 
ing everything except the front face and throat. Thus 
the narghile which each of the ladies held in her right 
hand, was the only thing apparently common to both. 

The eyes of the ladies seemed once in particular to 
meet. Those of the fair Northern fell to the ground, but 
those of the adorned beauty remained intently fixed. The 
countenance of the Princess had already changed from 
the expression of good-natured simplicity to what was 
more difficult to comprehend. In her ignorance of 
the outer world, she had perhaps never dreamed of re- 
ceiving in her apartments one of her own sex above the 
ordinary standard of beauty. I do not know whether 
these appearances were exactly so revealed to the fair 
guest of the Princess ; but there appeared to be with the 
European lady a presence of mind superior to the dis- 
covery of her thoughts, which, however, it was evident 
were not those of the Princess, but more probably as 
superior as knowledge and genius are to the childish 
amusements of the Turkish harem. 

A young male slave now brought the tidings that His 
Highness had awakened, and was prepared to receive the 
strangers ; upon which the Princess rose from her seat, 
took the hand of her especial guest, and led the way to 
the private apartment of His Highness, and the gentle- 
men followed. 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



397 



As we entered the Prince's apartment, His Highness rose 
from his low divan, and placing his right hand upon his 
breast, made a slight inclination of the body, and with a 
grave air bade us recline. The Princess sat down, and we 
all followed her example — not, as in Northern climes, 
huddled together around a fire, or by parties of three 
upon a divan much too small for two in the East, but 
around the room, not one certainly approaching within 
several yards of another. It, however, so happened that 
the lacly of our party was placed between His Highness 
and his spouse, and the travelling gentlemen sat imme- 
diately opposite the Prince, while our Greek interpreter 
stood near His Highness's right hand. The scene, indeed, 
was one in which a painter would have found no difficulty 
on the score of variety of dress, figure, age, and expres- 
sions of countenance. 

The eyes of all the natives present, from the Prince to 
the slaves, of which there were several in attendance, 
were fixed on the person of the stranger lady. She was 
doubtless the first European of their sex that any of the 
women, of whom there were several present, had ever 
seen. 

His Highness now inquired, addressing himself to the 
foreign lady, whether there were any more of her sex in 
Europe who could support the fatigue and perils of such 
a journey as she had made ; to which the lady addressed 
replied, that there were many who had enterprise enough 
to desire so to do. 

This brought on a conversation between the Prince 
and his lady guest, that was remarkable for the effects it 
seemed to produce upon the persons present. The Prince, 
as he listened to the interpretations of the Greek, seemed 
to forget all that was about him, while he reflected upon 
the observations made upon the difference between Euro- 



398 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYEIA. 



pean manners and the manners of the Eastern people. 
But after a sufficient discourse upon these subjects, 
the foreign lady, who seemed quite unconscious of the 
jealousy she had occasioned, made known to the Prince 
our desire to take leave, when she was answered by a 
pressing invitation for us all to spend a week in his apart- 
ments. 

The angel of darkness, when he first stumbled upon 
the happy pair in Paradise, reflected, doubted, and after 
confirming himself in evil, could not have more distinctly 
betrayed his envious feelings than this amiable Princess 
of the Lebanon betrayed hers. 

But this scene was of short duration, for His Highness 
was given to understand that our arrangements did not 
admit of our staying even for the night, as our cara- 
van was already four hours in advance. The Prince, 
upon this, seemed satisfied, or did not know whether a 
further offer would be in accord with our European 
manners. 

Our last and parting scene here was not unaccompanied 
with the same manifestations of suspicion or jealousy on 
the part of the amiable Princess. We all rose, and as 
we made the accustomed salaam, the Prince, in returning 
it, accompanied his actions with warm expressions of kind 
wishes for our safety and happiness. But what was natu- 
rally and gracefully performed by His Highness, was con- 
strainedly seconded by his wounded spouse ; but amidst 
the enforced ceremonies which accompanied her expres- 
sions of regret, if she concealed her feeling from the 
Prince, whose mind was probably too much occupied 
with the thoughts which the time suggested to perceive 
what had been otherwise apparent, they were not the less 
observable by the male Europeans present. Upon the 



TRAVELS IN THE LEBANON. 



399 



whole, therefore, we left this palace with the most favour- 
able impression of the goodness of all its inhabitants, but 
not so well pleased with ourselves for causing the royal 
lady, whose kindness had so strongly impressed us, the 
pain she evidently felt during our stay. 



400 



CHAPTEE XLVIIL 

JOURNEY TOWARDS DAMASCUS. 

Christian Peasantry — The Anti-Lebanon — A Dreary Country — 
View of Damascus. 

We left the princely dwellings in the Lebanon as the 
tops of the mountains began to throw their welcome 
shades across the broad valleys which form so great a 
feature in the magnificent scenery throughout this district 
of the country. The mules had preceded us, and we first 
took a winding path which led round the brow of the 
mountain range which forms one side of the curve in 
which the grand palace of the Emir stands. There was 
no descent in the pathway, before we opened a full view 
of the grand and more open ravine which extends in the 
opposite direction to that of Dier el Gamman. The lower 
country from this height presents rather the appearance 
of a great gulf than a fertile valley, while the projecting 
steps of the mountains on both sides, upon some of which 
appear villages, display the most luxuriant vegetation. 

We now gradually descended by an easy pathway 
towards the cultivated land, which forms an open con- 
tinuation of the ravine. We had some time since sent 
one of our Arabs forward to halt the caravan, in order 
that we might reach it before night ; and before the day 
closed, we came suddenly upon our tents, pitched in the 
very midst of the vegetation of the rich valley through 



JOURNEY TOWARDS DAMASCUS. 



401 



which we were passing. A part of our camp had been 
placed upon a small patch of grass, and the remainder 
near a plantation of mulberry-trees ; while in every di- 
rection the view was interrupted by the broad-leafed fig- 
tree, of superior growth to any we had before seen, and 
immediately in front of the encampment ran a narrow 
rapid stream, which, at a short distance further, fell from 
a precipice, and was lost to the sight amidst the verdure 
through which it passed to join the stream which divides 
Dier el Gamman from the territory of the Emir Beshir. 

The day had been one of agreeable adventure, but also 
one of fatigue ; w r e were therefore happy in finding our 
supper ready on our arrival, and we retired for the night 
almost as soon as we had partaken of the frugal meal 
which experience had taught us to be the best adapted to 
the traveller exposed during whole days to the burning 
rays of a Syrian sun. 

We did not see any of the inhabitants of the vicinity in 
which we had encamped until the following morning, w T hen 
several agriculturists who were passing by, stopped to 
satisfy their curiosity in well examining us. Their manner 
was the same as that of the inhabitants around the castle, 
and they expressed the same unbounded delight when 
informed that we were Christians. 

On recommencing our journey, we continued to march 
for a short distance along the fertile vale in which Ave 
had encamped, when, turning abruptly on the right, w r e 
ascended another division of the same great chain of the 
Lebanon by a road of the w r orst description. We attained 
the summit, however, in little more than two hours, and 
the view from this w r as in its character novel to our ex- 
perience. Immediately in front of us, w r e looked upon a 
broad plain, divided, cultivated, and exhibiting the green, 
yellow, and dark colours of the vegetation it produced ; 

D D 



402 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



but no sight of the olive, the mulberry, or the fig, and no 
appearance of villages or towns. 

• Beyond this plain, the irregular and lofty anti-Lebanon 
stretches north and south, receding in distance from the 
range on which we now stood towards the north, and 
curtailing the breadth of the plain in the opposite direc- 
tion, while its summits at this time — the 26 th of May — 
were, as far as the eye could reach towards the South, 
covered with snow. 

We again descended a pathway which led in an oblique 
direction along the mountain towards the south, and we 
did not fully reach the plain until the space between the 
mountains, which, as above mentioned, grew narrower as 
we proceeded, was greatly contracted in breadth. The 
whole of this side of the mountain was covered with wild 
vegetation, and the air was perfumed with a quantity of 
broom in full flower as we passed by ; but the ground was 
rocky and irregular, and we did not here perceive any at- 
tempts at cultivation, or any human habitations. 

When we came to the plain, we experienced the 
greatest transition and variation of temperature to which 
we had been hitherto subjected ; but the heat which we 
now felt was not attended with any exhalations or un- 
wholesome vapours, which sometimes account for the 
absence of such villages as are usually seen upon fertile 
lands. 

Before we reached the anti-Lebanon, we crossed a 
stone bridge thrown over a rapid stream running to- 
wards the south. Soon after this, upon turning to the 
left, we approached a broad defile, by which we gradually 
ascended these mountains, and within which we could 
distinguish the village of Hieter, which it was our wish 
to attain that evening, and we arrived in its vicinity 
just as the sun sank behind the mountains over which we 



JOUKXEY TOWARDS DAMASCUS. 



403 



had passed during the early part of the day. Here we 
encamped for the night. 

• On the following morning we broke up our encamp- 
ment at an early hour, and continued to ascend by a very 
gradual rise amidst a mass of shapeless rocky hills, which 
put us in mind of the sterile mountains of Judaea ; after 
which, without any considerable descent, we entered upon 
a broad, slightly undulating plain, beyond which the moun- 
tains seemed to rise as we advanced, like hills whose 
summits are seen while their bases are yet hidden from 
sight, when we approach the land from the sea. 

There was something in the natural features of this 
silent plain which impressed upon the mind a touching 
interest. No part of the desert had seemed to suggest 
the same feelings as we now experienced. We were 
between the anti-Lebanon and the hills which border the 
plains in which Damascus is situate ; and, during several 
hours that we were crossing from the mountains w r hich 
we left in our rear, to the hills which we were approach- 
ing, there was not the minutest indication to be discovered 
of the existence of any living creature. It appeared to 
us like passing over a dreary waste after its former in- 
habitants had perished, without leaving a monument to 
mark their transient existence. 

The conversion of St. Paul, which is supposed to have 
taken place in this vicinity, recurred to our minds ; and 
remembering that the aid of secondary and natural causes 
have not always been rejected in the performance of 
miracles, I could not avoid feeling that the gloom of this 
plain had much aided the conversion of one of the cruel 
persecutors of the Christians to one of the most active of 
the immediate followers of the Saviour. 

As soon as we arrived at the eastern boundary of the 
plain, w^e began to ascend the sterile hills upon which our 

D D 2 



404 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



eyes had been some time fixed ; and the first indication 
that we had of our approach to some habitable portion of 
the globe was a distinct view over a broad plain, in the 
midst of which we presently caught sight of the city 
of Damascus, seated amidst the same luxuriant vegetation 
which abounds in the valley of the Nile. 

In the midst of this verdure, and half concealed from 
view by the excess of vegetation, stands this remarkable 
city. Hundreds of white minarets that adorn its nu- 
merous mosques are seen rising above the luxuriant green, 
exhibiting to the traveller who has passed through the 
desert, so fair and beautiful an object, that his immediate 
impression is, that he sees for the first time the spot of 
the earth in which he would be willing to bargain before- 
hand for a residence for the rest of the time he may spend 
upon earth. 

After descending from these rocky hills we came upon 
a fertile district, and before we had far advanced, we 
found mud walls on either hand, which conduct to the 
city amidst the richest growth of the exuberant and wide- 
spreading walnut, the poplar, the olive, the ash, and the 
willow, which shut out every distant object from sight ; so 
that it was not until we reached the very gate of Damas- 
cus that the expectations conceived at the first view from 
the hills were disappointed. 



405 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 

DAMASCUS. 

The Christian Quarter — Difficulty about the Lady — The Bazaar — The 
Grand Mosque— Caravans between Damascus and Bagdad — Ladies in the 
Bazaar — Manner of Mussulmans passing the time. 

We passed the gates of Damascus without question. The 
street which leads thence to the Christian convent, to which 
we directed our guides to conduct us, was new and well 
paved. There were very few passengers near the gate, 
and we halted for a moment to take a survey of the form 
and appearance of the houses. They were evidently built 
of unbaked brick, plastered with mud and straw, and 
apparently without the slightest indication of design or 
attention to beauty or regularity ; and they were not 
only like those of the East in general, without windows 
on the ground floor, but they had so rarely any windows 
whatever in front, as to give to the street a gloom such 
as we had been far from anticipating after the gorgeous 
show which we had so lately contemplated from the 
hills. 

As we advanced we came to a part of the street occu- 
pied by shops and stalls filled with vegetables and the 
gross viands of the East, and exhibiting little above 
poverty and wretchedness, while a canopy, of reeds and 
matting everywhere shut out the rays of the sun, and at 
the same time the air, of which such situations stand in 
most need. 



406 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



From this we turned and entered a gate, which led 
immediately into the Christian quarter, at a very few 
steps within which stood the Latin convent, at which we 
wished to take up our abode. On our application here, 
however, we encountered the usual difficulty regarding 
the admission of the lady. The superior, nevertheless, 
conducted us through some dirty courts to a miserable 
adjoining building, consisting of two winclowless and 
dirty apartments, to which he said the lady might be ad- 
mitted upon his blocking up the passage which led to the 
convent, and opening a way into a street which passed at 
the back of the sacred edifice ; but as our servants seemed 
to think they could find lodgings for us in some Christian 
family, my friends declined remaining here until we had 
made the attempt proposed ; and after a due search 
we were successful in finding quarters that suited my 
fellow-travellers, which left the way open for my admission 
into one of the cells within the convent, which I engaged 
to occupy ; and from this time until some few days before 
our departure from Damascus, I saw a very little of my 
constant companions during the interesting journey we 
had performed from Jerusalem to Beyrout, and that which 
had occupied the last few days. 

On the morning after our arrival at Damascus I left 
the convent to take a general view of the town, accom- 
panied by a Christian Arab servant whom I had engaged at 
Beyrout. Our first visit was to the Grand Bazaar, which 
all the people of the East so highly extol, and I was not 
disappointed in what I had been given to expect. For 
richness in every article of Persian and Indian manufac- 
ture, besides the silks and other productions of Syria, 
it seemed to me inferior to none of all that I had seen in 
the East, while the arrangements, as far at least as might 
content the eye of a stranger, are superior to those of the 



DAMASCUS. 



407 



bazaar of the great Ottoman capital. The grand bazaar 
at Constantinople is within a series of gloomy arcades, 
crowded with a confused profusion of articles for sale, 
while the arcades here are broad, and light, and airy, 
with covered ways, in which every , article of merchandise 
is displayed to the best advantage, and every vendor sits 
with a cheerful air, such as belongs not to a Turk, and 
all are richly or gaudily habited, and wear turbans, 
which graceful head-dress has been more or less ex- 
changed for the red cap in the other parts of Syria. 

This uniformity extends also to the exterior of the 
stalls, before which is constructed a sort of platform, 
generally divided in the middle to admit of entering into 
the depot of goods, and in the better stalls these are 
neatly railed in front and on both sides, and within them 
the vendor sits, pipe ever in hand, awaiting the advent of 
his customers. 

I was in want of a few trifling articles, which I took 
the opportunity of purchasing, as soon as I had walked 
through the chief bazaar ; and I shall describe the 
manner of my first bargain in Damascus. 

I first requested my dragoman to ask the price of a sash, 
which appeared to me to be such an article as I was in 
want of, and which was hanging upon a string that 
passed immediately over the head of the vendor, who 
was enjoying his tchebook, and which was not more than 
a foot above his turban as he sat. Instead, of reaching 
the sash, however, he immediately desired that the 
homager (master) might be requested to seat himself 
within the rail and smoke a tchebook, to which, as soon 
as informed of this, I complied ; and I was scarce seated 
before coffee was also brought from the stall of the kind 
found in every bazaar in the East, from which the opera- 
tions of the purchasers are watched, and coffee kept 



408 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



ready to be served. The man, however, who serves the 
coffee does not officiously interfere, but waits till he sees 
the tchebook offered and accepted, and then usually brings 
the coffee without its being demanded. I did not at 
first know, so little is here the variation in the dress 
between the native Christians and the Mussulmans, that I 
had addressed a Christian. As soon, however, as I knew 
the merchant to be of the European faith, I endeavoured, 
through my dragoman, to draw him into conversation 
concerning the condition of the Christians generally of 
Damascus ; but it was unavailing, and our discourse was 
confined to the sale and purchase of the sash, with the 
strained compliments common in the land. 

We next directed our steps towards the Grand Mosque, 
the dome of which we had plainly seen from the hills be- 
fore we entered the city ; but we found the noble edifice of 
Mussulman worship so enveloped, so buried in the midst of 
the bazaars and covered ways, that it was impossible to 
obtain a fair view of any considerable portion of the ex- 
terior, and if we had entered the building, it is probable 
that the most cunning disguise would not have saved us 
from such treatment from a number of Mussulmans as 
we might have long remembered. 

With the only peep we could obtain of the interior of 
the building, which was from the street, nothing was to be 
seen but the wall opposite ; but as I found this view so un- 
satisfactory, I proposed to my Christian dragoman, as there 
appeared to be no guard present, that we should at least 
approach a little nearer the proper entrance of the mosque, 
to obtain a somewhat better view of what really was to be 
seen within ; but as the good fellow had no answer to make 
to this, I stepped out a few paces, and arriving safely at the 
proper door, I put my head, at least, within, without pulling 
off my shoes. There were two or three fellows, whether 



DAMASCUS. 



409 



guardsmen or not, lying apparently asleep on one side 
within the entrance, and there were about a dozen others 
engaged in prayer at the different parts of the grand court 
of the mosque, so that I do not believe that I was seen by 
any one. But what I saw did not by any means disappoint 
the expectation excited by some accounts of travellers 
who have had opportunities of inspecting the interior of 
this mosque. We observed that the floor was paved 
with marble, and, according to the best authorities, the 
mosque was between six and seven hundred feet in length 
and one hundred and fifty in breadth. In the centre is a 
spacious cistern surrounded with colonnades, whereat the 
Mussulmans perform their ablutions before offering up 
their prayers. 

A more characteristic feature of Damascus is to be 
seen in the khans, or depots of merchandise appropriated 
to the wholesale merchants. They have here their count- 
ing-houses as well as their grand stock of goods. These 
depots consist of great stone buildings, with each a dome, 
and in some instances they have arcades, and they are no 
mean specimens of the Moorish, or more properly Sara- 
cenic, style of architecture ; but when I saw them they 
were nearly empty of goods, by reason of the delay of 
the caravan from Bagdad, the most remarkable city with 
which the merchants of Damascus trade. 

Some idea may be formed of the extent and importance 
of the commerce between Damascus and Bagdad, by the 
character of the caravans by which it is carried on. In 
the ordinary course of their commercial affairs, the mer- 
chants in each of these cities receive and despatch two 
caravans annually, each of which employs between twenty 
and thirty thousand camels. But the last of these had 
been exposed to a predatory attack from the Bedouins 
of the desert, who had retired after the capture of two 



410 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



thousand camels and their loads, but. according to in- 
formation received at Damascus, with the loss of three 
hundred men. Thus the caravan which was now ex- 
pected, and which arrived, or, at least, began to draw its 
slow length within the walls of Damascus before we 
quitted, had found it prudent, instead of directly passing 
the desert, to come by an indirect route, and had been 
five months upon the road. 

A little before three o'clock in the day, at which hour 
the bazaars are closed and business ceases, I observed a 
great increase of ladies among the purchasers. The women 
of Damascus generally veil completely, but with a ma- 
terial so flimsy that their faces are hardly concealed ; but 
while in the bazaars, and engaged with their purchases, 
this veil is usually put aside, and a kind of burnouse is 
thrown over the head, which effectually conceals their 
faces. Yet such stolen glances as I have occasionally 
been able to obtain at the bazaar, did not give me reason 
to rate that agreeable attribute of the fair portion of our 
species which we call beauty lower at Damascus than that 
of the specimens which we had seen in the Lebanon. 

The same evening I strolled through some of the more 
public streets, and entered several of the coffee-houses ; 
but I was as much disappointed with these places of 
public resort at Damascus as with those of all the other 
cities of the East which I had visited. The houses are 
for the most part placed by the side of a running stream, 
which is their chief recommendation. The divans within 
them are fantastically painted, but by no means exhibit 
generally either elegance or cleanliness. 

The coffee-house which seemed to be the most fre- 
quented here has the waters of the Eiver Barrada, which 
passes through the city, introduced beneath its entire 
floor, which is a mere roofed platform supported upon 



DAMASCUS. 



411 



shores, and open on all sides. This is at night lighted up 
with numerous lamps, and is altogether the gayest object 
to be seen in the town. Here I passed one of the first 
evenings of my sojourn in the city, and as I sipped the 
precious juice of the burned berry, and puffed the ever- 
lasting tchebook, my thoughts were occupied in the con- 
templation of that calm, placid disposition which the 
Arabs and Turks seem to possess when engaged with this 
substitute for the more active enjoyments of a civilised 
people. 

The Mussulman's means of passing his leisure hours 
show the poverty of Oriental invention in search of plea- 
sure, and the barbarity of such governments as have never 
dreamed of introducing those means of relaxation and 
enjoyment which in European countries exercise the fancy 
with what gratifies the sense. A Turk or an Arab sits 
himself down, not, I feel assured, in what is charitably 
called by some travellers calm contemplation, but occu- 
pied with the only source of enjoyment with which he is 
acquainted, which is forgetfulness. As 4 Nature abhors a 
vacuum,' so the spirit of man delights not in absolute 
rest, beyond the few hours of sleep necessary to restore 
the tired senses, and the tchebook leaves just excitement 
enough to fill the otherwise 4 aching void,' which would 
be as painful to endure as the ennui which the evening 
often brings to those who have made the business of their 
lives the enjoyment of pleasure given for recreation, or 
have accustomed themselves to the grosser pleasures of 
sense, unmixed with what touches the imagination or 
improves the understanding. 

I had never anywhere known any exception to this 
unmixed and gross species of enjoyment, except in one 
or two of the coffee-houses at Cairo, where, it has been 
already mentioned, I observed portions of the 4 Thousand 



412 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



and Seventy Nights ' sometimes recited and sometimes 
read. But the Mussulmans here have not even this re- 
source. Born in pride, and nurtured in ignorance, they 
pass their existence without the feeling of any enjoyments 
but such as are sensual, so that we almost want the proof 
of their humanity that a foreign philosopher required 
before he would believe that the British discoverer of the 
laws of Nature which the Newtonian system embraces, 
was of the human species — the evidence that he ate and 
drank. 

6 Is not a Turk fed with the same food, warmed and 
cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian 
is ?' In all this, indeed, the Turk is as the Christian. 
But to pursue these interrogatories a little further, 6 Hath 
a Turk senses, affections, passions, the same as a Christian 
hath ? ' and here it may be answered, that assuredly these 
a Turk hath not. 



413 



CHAPTEE L. 
Damascus — continued. 

The Gardens— House of the Bagdad Merchant — Christian Ladies — The 
Interior — Conversation ysdth the Ladies — The Monks. 

After a day or two's confinement at the convent from 
the effects of the damp air of the great coffee-house above 
the water, which the natives find so charming and refresh- 
ing, I renewed my walks through the city. 

Having passed the bazaars with my Christian guide, 
we came to a less-frequented part of the town than I had 
before seen, through several of the streets of which we 
strolled. All here wore the general aspect of silence 
and gloom. Scarce a window better than a latticed 
grating was seen facing the street, while the invariable 
character of the dull edifices, which are of the same 
colour as the ground, gave to the whole a monotonous 
and uninteresting appearance. 

We next visited the several gardens which form so 
remarkable a feature in the character and scenery of 
Damascus. The chief garden is, at certain hours, the 
resort of Mussulman ladies only, and is then shut against 
strangers or natives of the opposite sex ; but it was now 
early in the clay, and the gates were open to all who 
chose to enter. There were here irregular beds of shrubs 
and flowers, and grass-plots, with the greater part of the 
trees of the climate growing promiscuously, and the 
ground is enclosed within high mud walls. 



414 



DAMASCUS. 



We entered, a little later in the day, one or two of the 
better class of gardens, at the hours at which they are 
most frequented. In one of these there were many of 
the fair sex of all ages, both Christians and Israelites, but 
a very few men. As we walked in, there was a plot of 
grass encompassing a space of about twenty square yards, 
around which was a walk, and at the upper end of the 
plot stood a cistern of water, about which a dozen ladies 
were seated on the grass, sipping coffee and puffing the 
narghil, and the majority of them were unveiled. There 
was also a stall, beset both within and without by the fair 
sex of every age, splendidly dressed ; but some that were 
unveiled here covered their faces as we passed them by. 

Around the wall of this garden, which was not very 
extensive, were beds producing the largest species that I 
have seen of the oak, the sycamore, and the' fig. 

We next entered an inner enclosure, which was a mere 
field of grass and weeds, which were growing promiscu- 
ously under the shade of the walnut, the sycamore, and 
the oak. Several groups of ladies were here sitting on 
the grass, all seriously occupied with the narghile and in 
more than a single instance one of the other sex formed 
a member of the group. 

I had up to this time seen little that especially distin- 
guishes Damascus from the other oriental cities I had 
visited, except the great caravansaries or khans. More- 
over, the absence of any monuments of antiquarian inte- 
rest, arising from the unendurable materials of which the 
present city (save at least the concealed mosque, of which 
the stranger cannot see sufficient to make any satisfactory 
observation), renders this city less worthy than many 
others in the East of a- protracted stay; but, as I had 
determined to wait for the company of my late fellow- 
travellers, who were not yet satisfied, and entertained 



DAMASCUS. 



415 



hopes of getting admission at least to the interior of some 
of the private houses, I confined myself to the convent, 
occupied for the chief part of the day in writing these 
notes. 

The consul had at first given us no hopes of being 
able to visit the interior of any palace, or any dwelling of 
one of the wealthier among the inhabitants, though there 
were said to be twelve thousand independent Christians 
in the city and nearly half that number of Israelites. 
Both of these bodies being oriental, they nearly evince 
the same desire to avoid exposing any signs of wealth, 
as well as to conceal the female members of their 
families. The difficulty, however, as far as private 
houses were concerned, was by-and-by vanquished by the 
fair traveller with us, who, through the kindness of 
the British ' consul, and by her purchases, obtained 
admission with her husband into one of the superior 
Christian houses, and I accompanied them while the lacly 
made a sketch of a part of the interior of this family 
residence. 

The interior of a Damascus house has something of a 
novel character even to a Syrian from any other part of 
the country, and it may be the same with the family that 
inhabit it ; I shall therefore be a little more particular in 
my notice, both of the dwelling we frequented and of its 
inhabitants, than might otherwise have seemed to be 
justified. 

The house to which we were introduced was that of a 
Bagdad merchant, who was one of the wealthiest Chris- 
tians of the city. It has been above observed, that the 
Christians of the East, as well as the Israelites, have feel- 
ings and customs nearly in common with their barbarian 
rulers ; and this, rather than any more definite reason, 
has still kept the European visitor from entering the 



416 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



sacred interior of their dwellings. But to excite envy, 
by the display of comfort or wealth, which is very easy 
in any part of the Mussulman empire, is, especially here, 
to invite the spoilers whose robbery and oppression is 
often felt by the resigned and patient victims of a bad 
system of government, and laws which have been 
seldom administered with justice towards the Christians 
or Israelites. 

The house hi question was thrown open to our party, 
but it was not easy to discover with what feeling, or 
whether we might make long or only short visits, and it 
would be difficult to account for the peculiarity observed 
on the part of the family, before the lady had completed 
the sketch, which she commenced under the most auspi- 
cious circumstances of good feeling and kindness from 
the whole family. 

Monsieur and myself set off on horseback to join our 
fellow traveller, who was already occupied with her work. 
After passing through a mean bazaar in the Christian 
quarter, we entered a dull, dusty way, with the dead 
walls of almost windowless houses on either side of us, 
till we came to a slight break or elbow in the street, 
formed by the projection of a building of superior dimen- 
sions to those about it ; and this we were told was the 
back of the residence of the Bagdad merchant. We did 
not perceive either door or window on this side of the 
building ; and, on coming to the front, we found a similar 
dead wall, which seemed to us unpierced by windows or 
a door ; but we had hardly time to look about us before 
our guide had alighted, and was in the act of knocking, 
for there was a knocker not very much unlike those which 
we use, and this was upon a little low door, which seemed 
more like what would conduct to an underground depot 
of merchandise than to the residence of one of those 



DAMASCUS. 



417 



'signiors and rich burghers who overpeer the petty 
traffickers ' around them, and had entirely escaped our 
notice as we passed it by. 

The summons of our guide was soon answered by the 
universal interrogatory from within, to which the guide 
replied, 6 Your best Christian friends from the convent,' 
at which the door was immediately opened by a young 
female domestic, who led the way through an obscure 
passage about thirty paces in length, and we followed 
with our guide, till we came to a door at the end, much 
like that which we had passed by. But from this we 
came immediately into the court of a dwelling that was 
in an instant transformed in appearance from a 'petty 
trafficker's ' abode to a ' royal merchant's ' commodious 
and princely residence. We stepped, in fact, directly 
from the dust of the dark passage to tread carefully upon 
a pavement of marble, polished to the gloss of a mirror. 

In the centre of a court of about fifty or sixty paces in 
breadth was a wide cistern under the shade of lemon-trees, 
and into this two fountains continually discharged their 
cooling streams, while two distinct departments of the 
building composed two sides of the quadrangular court, 
and the other two exhibited thick beds of shrubs, above 
which the orange and the taller fig hid from the sight 
the wall beyond them. 

We had entered at one of the corners of the quadrangle, 
and opposite to a similar door which conducted to the 
menial apartments, and on our left hand the more superb 
and upper part of the house faced us, while the less em- 
bellished side was on our right. But before there had 
been time to make these observations, about half a dozen 
unveiled ladies and several commoner women came out of 
the centre door on our right and approached us. The 
principal of them were the wife and sisters of the mer- 

E E 



418 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



chant, and his children, who were all splendidly dressed, 
and the rest were the menials, of the establishment. 

We were much struck by the appearance of these ladies, 
who were raised from the ground some five or six inches 
by a sort of patten or sandal, under the sole of which 
were placed two cross pieces, which lifted them to that 
height above the ground. I did not, however, exhibit 
any surprise, for I had already seen this whimsical article 
of female ornament in 'the bazaars. We were soon fami- 
liar with the tall ladies, but our conversation was for some 
minutes confined to matters concerning such novelties as 
the eye discovered to us, and was full of approval on our 
side and satisfaction on the other. The scene around was 
indeed so new and unexpected to us, that my rapt fancy, 
when I looked upon the fair group in a country where the 
faces of the women are so rarely seen, superseded every 
other thought, until the politeness of one of the virgin 
sisters of the princely merchant, who did not require to 
know our business, stepped out and bid us follow her. 

We now came to the upper side of the house, which 
faced the centre of the court, with a raised floor, and was 
beautifully paved with polished marble, and furnished 
with rich divans. From this we turned upon the left and 
at once entered the highest embellished of the apartments, 
where we found our fair companion sitting on a low seat, 
sketching the agreeable scene before her. 

The floor of one half of this apartment, which was spa- 
cious, was raised about two feet and a half above the part 
at which we entered, and the whole was beautifully paved 
with coloured marble. In the middle of the lower divi- 
sion was placed a marble reservoir, of proportionate 
dimensions to the size of the room, and into this two 
fountains, similar to those in the court, continually jetted 
a fresh and clear stream. But the artist by whom the 



DAMASCUS. 



419 



apartment had been designed had reserved the full display 
of his magnificent embellishments for the upper floor, 
which met the eye as one perfect exhibition of the work- 
manship and riches of the East, subjected in the execution 
to the rules of the most refined taste. The floor here was 
covered with fine matting, while the walled sides were 
occupied with low divans of buff and green colours. The 
ceiling and the walls were of wood, carved with exquisite 
skill, painted in gold and green colour upon a ground 
of buff, while in several niches with fine wrought work : 
manship were lodged vases of porcelain of the colour of 
the walls and filled with odoriferous flowers, while others 
bore narrow chandeliers of coloured glass. But two 
sides of the apartment which looked upon the court and 
upon an open chamber with divans afforded ample light, 
without the inconvenience of the full glare of the Damascus 
sun. 

The apartments at the opposite end of the court com- 
prised two chambers, one of which was of larger dimen- 
sions than any one of those at the upper end, and the 
other, which was smaller, formed a nursery for the 
children of the family. As we entered the larger of 
these apartments, accompanied by the European lady, we 
found several ladies seated upon divans, who requested 
us to seat ourselves also ; and as soon as we had taken 
our places, one or two of the younger sort among our 
hosts, sat down upon the marble floor at the feet of the 
grand object of their admiration— the European of their 
own sex. 

We now attempted, through the unsatisfactory means 
of interpretation, to hold a little intercourse with some of 
the Damascus ladies ; but although there was no reserve 
on their part, we found little save their personal attrac- 
tions to admire. At least they afforded us less interest 

E E 2 



420 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



and feeling than the good families of the Maronites whom 
we visited in the Lebanon. 

But we had not been seated long, before the merchant 
and one of his associates made their appearance, and as 
soon as they were seated, the ladies rose and withdrew, 
and our fair companion was able to resume her work. 
The tchebook and coffee were now ordered, and we par- 
took of those necessary accompaniments to all affairs, 
whether of business or enjoyment, in the East. 

Our intercourse was unrestrained, and commenced with 
a few questions on our part concerning the condition of the 
Christians of Syria generally, in their political and social 
relations to the various sects of their countrymen ; and 
what we heard gave us reason to hope that all Europe, 
except Eome, united in the bonds of a common charity 
as well as of a common faith, might by-and-by subdue 
the great prejudices against Christians, still so prevalent 
in the East. 

But our hosts were most particular in their inquiries 
respecting the commerce of England in general ; and they 
expressed a wish to open a direct intercourse with our 
country, for the trade which they now carried on with us 
was altogether through the medium of the merchants of 
Beyrout ;' and they went so far as to propose, with full 
apparent confidence, to join with ourselves in some 
speculation. This, however, we informed them was an 
undertaking which we were not competent to carry out, 
without the advantages of experience, which we had not ; 
but we promised them that on our return to Europe we 
would endeavour to find some young merchant who would 
at least obtain for them all the information they could 
require, to form any plan they might wish to enter upon. 
They were apparently very grateful for this, and after 
rising from their seats, and giving one of the domestics 



DAMASCUS. 



421 



orders to lead us again to the apartment where our fair 
companion had been engaged, they took leave and retired, 
to prepare, as they informed us, a sketch of a plan of com- 
merce which they promised to draw up, with a list of in- 
terrogations and a table of information, which they were 
to bring to us at the convent. 

This, however, I am obliged to say, they did not do ; 
and during several clays that we were after this back- 
wards and forwards at their dwelling, with the European 
lady so well occupied, we saw no more of the merchant 
nor of any of his family, notwithstanding repeated in- 
quiries we made of the domestic who admitted us. It 
was thus quite plain that some offence had been uncon- 
sciously given by one or all of our party, or some sus- 
picion had arisen against us, but on what account we 
could not discover ; and we were obliged to leave Da- 
mascus a short time after this without being able to form 
the smallest conjecture concerning the cause of the change 
of feeling of the merchant and his family, for which we 
felt sincere regret. 

The reception, likewise, that we had met with from the 
monks of St. Francis did not much prepossess us in their 
favour ; yet I trust I may record a little venial sin of 
omission without causing the suspicion of any desire to 
heap upon the heads of a poor, simple, secluded detach- 
ment of a Christian church, all the consequences that 
might result from the ways they have contracted in their 
gloomy solitude. 

We usually look upon the visitation of the sick as 
peculiarly becoming or incumbent upon every order of 
Christian priests ; but a traveller who, shut up in a con- 
vent with a dozen monks at his very door, and within 
hearing of their 'Paternosters' and 'Ave Marias,' has 
surely reason to complain of being left in the solitude of 



422 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



a dungeon, if his forms of worship do not sufficiently 
agree with those of his neighbours to permit him to join 
with them at all times in their prayers. For several long 
days, however, I was confined to my room by indisposi- 
tion without a visitation from any one of the brothers of 
St. Francis, who, morning, noon, and evening, mumbled 
their monotonous petitions to heaven within my hearing. 

The second evening of my confinement to my gloomy 
cell, I sent the prior a message that was a tolerably clear 
hint of my disappointment at not seeing him, and the 
next day I received, in answer to my message, the 
assurance that the additional prayers of that day — 
the petitions to St. Hospice — would render it impos- 
sible for him to come to my cell until the following 
clay. The following day, however, he did come ; and 
here I must confess on my own part an essay of temper 
which the negligence of the superior might hardly justify; 
but the mumbling of the monotonous petitions of the 
monks, together with the ennui attendant upon solitude, 
had deprived me of all patience. Thus I reproached the 
poor monk that he had dishonoured the very saint that 
he had been with his vain prayers invoking for a whole 
day, for that he had neglected to administer the only 
comfort in his power to give to a stranger in the land at 
the time he was invoking the patron of the convents that 
were peculiarly for the use of pilgrims. 

The monk, who was a Spaniard, bore these reproaches 
with remarkable patience and good temper ; and if he 
did not now regain my full esteem for his hospitality, I 
cannot complain, after this, of anything worse than a 
general air of indifference from all the monks of the con- 
vent, for whom it might be well pleaded in excuse that 
they are one of the most secluded, if not oppressed, of all 
the brothers in the different convents in the East. 



DAMASCUS. 



423 



It was impossible, in this situation, not to reflect upon 
the mistaken system of Christianity which has made reli- 
gion to consist chiefly in ceremonies with the name of 
Him who commanded His disciples to practise the active 
duties of humanity, and taught them a prayer most re- 
markable for its conciseness and its simplicity. What is 
tli ere to compensate for these unintelligible dogmas which 
have confounded reason, stayed inquiry, and arrested 
knowledge, even until the worship of the Divine Being 
has become a painful task or a gaudy mockery ; while 
the presumptuous anathemas of the haughty priests, who 
pretend to know the foes of the Almighty, deal damnation 
to the largest portion of the great family of mankind — 
to the children of one common Father? Spain and Italy, 
in particular, wherefore your learning, when you have 
not the courage to disabuse the world within you by 
removing the veil which conceals the beauty of truth, 
and by setting aside the unmeaning shows which deform 
its simplicity ? 



424 



CHAPTER LI. 

BALBEC. 

Village of Seedge — A Polite Sheykh — View of Balbec from the Anti- 
Lebanon — A Grand Temple — The Euins by Moonlight — Visit to the 
Emir of the District — A Maronite Bishop. 

On the morning of June 7 I left Damascus for Balbec in 
company with my last fellow-travellers. The first part of 
our route lay through the country over which we had 
before passed. We mounted the same hills and passed 
over the same gloomy plain before mentioned ; after 
which we had a remarkable view of the village of Seedge 
in the valley of Banada, the dwellings in which, from this 
elevation, appearing to be all under one spacious roof ; 
but when we reached the village, which did not appear 
to contain more than a hundred houses, we found little 
to excite our interest. 

At four o'clock, we passed over a bridge which crossed 
a tumbling torrent in one of the winding defiles of the 
mountains, and after an hour and a half we came to 
some hedges which enclosed fields cultivated with superior 
care. After this we passed through lanes with high 
hedges on either side, upon the level ground. The 
scenery here more resembled that of some parts of Eng- 
land than any I had hitherto seen ; but before the day 
closed we arrived at the village of Zibladannah, and 
pitched our tents upon a plot of grass apart from the 
houses, and by the side of a rapid stream. 



BALBEC. 



425 



While we were raising our tents and preparing for the 
night, the sheykh of the village, who was taking his 
coffee upon a platform attached to a coffee-house and 
thrown across the stream at about ten or fifteen feet 
above the water, sent to invite us to join him, and we 
accepted his invitation, and sipped and puffed away the 
time with a very little conversation, until the damp air in 
the evening warned us to retire to our tents. 

We left this village at a very early hour on the follow- 
ing morning, and we were the greater part of this day 
occupied in crossing the hills and valleys of the anti- 
Lebanon, from which we first saw some of the columns 
among the ruins of Balbec towering above the groves of 
trees that concealed the more extensive remains ; and 
after making the circuit of a hill in our descent, we 
gradually came within full view of the remarkable re- 
mains of the fortress and the buildings within its walls. 

We next passed over vast heaps of the ruins of edifices 
of a later date than those nobler remains which have 
with so much reason filled every traveller in the Lebanon 
with wonder and admiration. In the immensity of some 
of the details which will be mentioned, the world does 
not exhibit any parallel, and the Acropolis at Athens can 
alone be compared with advantage to the Citadel of 
Balbec. 

The first remarkable ruin that we passed on our way 
to the more ancient, was the remains of a Mussulman 
temple. After leaving this and the tottering fragments 
of walls which apparently once formed the end of a 
Christian temple, we arrived at the foot of the proper 
citadel, where we pitched our tents beneath the shade of 
a grove of trees which touched the masses of broken 
columns and lesser fragments that have fallen from the 
lofty heights of the grand temple within the citadel, and 



426 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



filled the ditch which surrounds the artificial hill by 
which you ascend to the fort. 

The next morning, when we issued from the grove that 
had sheltered us during the night, we had one of the 
grandest views which is to be found among the ruined 
monuments of any former age, and we ascended the waUs 
of the fortress by the path which, the broken masses of 
ruins afforded at the western end of the remains of the 
grand temple, one side of which is near the walls of the 
fortress, towards the south. 

This acropolis of the Syrian desert, from its foundation, 
is entirely a work of art, and must have been of great 
strength in the age in which the city flourished. It 
seems to have been designed to defend the sacred temple 
within it from the ravages of war, or from the desecra- 
tion of enemies of different superstitions from that to 
which they submitted. The whole of the walls of the 
grand temple yet stand entire, amidst the overthrow of 
the columns and capitals of the noble peristyle which 
surrounded them. 

The style of architecture is generally that of the 
Corinthian order, with the columns slightly fluted in 
the shaft. Upon the south side of the temple there are 
but one or two of the columns remaining entire, while 
one of these, from which its capital has been thrown, 
bears against the unshaken wall. On the west and the 
north they have suffered less damage. The circumference 
of the columns we found to be twenty feet. They sup- 
port a massy roof, decorated with the finest specimens of 
sculpture. Of the grand facade or portico, which is on 
the east, there remains but one or two columns ; while 
the way is almost closed by the mighty fragments of the 
former embelHshments of the temple. 

Between these ruins and the proper gate of entrance a 



BALBEC. 



427 



massive wall exists, which is of later date than the 
rest ; the only means of communication was a small 
door, through which, by reason of the rubbish, we were 
compelled to creep. Between this wall and the proper 
wall of the temple there is a space of about ten paces in 
breadth ; and the gate or aperture which leads to the 
interior of the temple is twenty-one and a half feet in 
breadth, bearing a just proportion to the dimensions of 
the temple, and is richly embellished with fancy sculp- 
ture in white marble, superior to any other similar 
work which I have had the opportunity of examining. It 
has also symbolical traits of admirable workmanship, 
and the winged spread-eagle and globe adorn the surface 
of the centre stones, of three of which the arch is 
composed. 

From this to the interior of the temple, the roof of 
which has alone disappeared, are found the most finished 
specimens of the highest embellished style which is 
perhaps, even with the disadvantages of time, to be seen 
in the world. It strikes an observer indifferent to the 
nicer distinctions of art, as a work in the highest degree 
towards perfection. Yet, a chaste taste might, in this 
instance, condemn the seeming exuberance of ornament. 
It might be said to have been too gaudy for the Greek 
style, of which, however, there may be no fair specimens 
remaining, to enable any one to make the comparison, 
and too minute in its details for the simple genius of the 
Italian. In a word, it presented to our judgment a noble 
original, of which there is nothing; similar. 

o J o 

We found the dimensions of the temple, after entering, 
to be 126 feet in length, by 71 in breadth ; and, by dint 
of creeping, we found our way through a narrow 
winding staircase of stone steps to the roof of the peristyle, 
from which there is a noble view of the surrounding 



428 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



mountains and the plain which intervenes between the 
site of Balbec and the Lebanon. 

After our examination of the chief standing temple, we 
proceeded to take a cursory view of the less preserved 
remains of other edifices, the fragments of which cover 
the entire surface of the ground within the noble citadel. 
It would be in vain, however, to attempt to particularise 
these, for here 6 confusion has made his master-piece,' and 
the bases of the temples are so buried amidst ruins and 
the general accumulation of rubbish, that few conjectures 
can be depended upon concerning them. 

The most remarkable objects among these indistin- 
guishable ruins consist of six fine Corinthian columns of 
much superior dimensions to those which composed the 
facade of the temple described ; but we were not so much 
as able to discover the form of the edifice to which they 
belonged. 

We came out of the citadel after some hours spent in 
the examination of its remarkable remains, but we re- 
turned again late in the evening to view the just object 
of our contemplation beneath the pure though fitful 
light of the Eastern moon, undisturbed by the wild 
cries of beasts or night-birds, such as are heard among 
the remote and more extended ruins of the Egyptian 
cities. 

Early on the second day of our sojourn by these ruins, 
we made the closest examination that Ave were able, of 
the interior walls or cliffs of the artificial hill upon which 
the remains of the temples stand. We were the more 
particular in our external survey, because it exposes the 
great wonder of art which has so confounded some tra- 
vellers' judgments, that they have confessed their inability 
to understand what human invention could have contrived 
so mighty a work as is exhibited by the dimensions of 



BALBEC. 



429 



some of the materials which compose the great walls ; and 
indeed readers of such seemingly exaggerated reports 
have unhesitatingly avowed their disbelief in them. But 
that these impressions should have been made will not 
appear so wonderful, when it is considered that certain 
of the stones in the walls exceed in dimensions any that 
are found in any of the ancient or modern architectural 
edifices in the world ; and it should not be forgotten that 
the Syracusan philosopher declared, that with the sim- 
plest of all the mechanical powers, he wanted only a 
fulcrum and a place to stand upon to be in a condition to 
move the earth from its centre ; and I shall add my 
corroboratory evidence to the reports of other travellers 
concerning these stones. In fine, we measured that in 
particular which appeared to be the largest in the wall, 
with as much exactness as we were able, and found it 
to be seventy feet in length and fifteen in depth, and 
there could be little doubt, from the dimensions of many 
others which formed the corners of the walls, that its 
width was equal to its depth, which would make a mass 
of stone to remove which we can hardly conceive a means 
sufficiently powerful. Yet when we remember the force of 
the lever, and the inclined plane above alluded to, we may 
put aside all wonder save that which is excited by contem- 
plating the little value which seems to have been set 
upon time, by the authors of this and many other works 
of antiquity. 

There are only two or three stones of nearly the size of 
this largest in the walls, and these are all on the west side 
of the citadel. The rest of the walls are constructed of 
stones averaging thirty-two feet in length, fourteen feet in 
breadth, and twelve feet in depth. 

On the third morning after our arrival amidst the ruins 
of Balbec, we made a visit to the Emir of the district, 



430 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



who was residing within half a mile of the ancient citadel ; 
and although our reception did not at first seem to be 
such as to afford an opportunity of eulogising Arab hos- 
pitality, there was ample excuse for the indifference which 
appeared to possess the Emir, and great blame to be at- 
tached to ourselves for negligence, and for the little 
ceremony which we used. 

By some unpardonable forgetfulness we were unat- 
tended, except by our interpreter, and we rode directly 
into the court of the Emir's dwelling, dismounted, and, 
without asking a question of some attendants present, 
walked directly into what our guide pointed out to us to 
be the grand reception-chamber and judgment-hall, never 
reflecting, until we were in the' very presence, that we 
had not even inquired whether any pre-ceremony was 
necessary. But we were yet more culpable in making 
our appearance in our travelling dresses, which, though 
convenient, were an inelegant mixture of the European 
and the Arab. 

The effect of dress is very great in the East, and I was 
never in any instance before so sensible of the value of 
Don Quixote's advice to Sancho Panza, when the latter 
was on the eve of departure to take possession of his 
government, that ' a broomstick well dressed doesn't look 
like a broomstick.' 

The hall which we entered was spacious, but furnished 
with nothing more than divans and matting. Several 
attendants were standing beyond the matting beneath a 
divan, upon which the Emir and an Arab, whom we 
afterwards found was his brother, were seated, superbly 
dressed after the Arab manner, puffing the tchebook, and 
at the same time playing chess. They regarded us for a 
moment as we entered, but they neither rose nor discon- 
tinued their game, probably thinking that we were sup- 



BALBEC. 



431 



pliants for tlie Emir's distribution of justice in some 
dispute, and offended at our abrupt entry. The servant, 
however, that was with us, more accustomed to the want 
of dignity in our appearance, and shocked at the recep- 
tion which we seemed to receive, stood silent, while we 
most unceremoniously took our places on either side of 
the Emir and his companion. Upon this, however, the 
chess-players turned from their game and began to con- 
verse with us. The first part of our discourse consisted 
of the usual compliments, of course, after which the Emir 
informed us that a tradition existed among the Arabs 
here, that the temples within the walls of the citadel 
which we had examined were nearly entire about three 
generations before the present time, when they were 
overthrown by an earthquake, which destroyed nearly 
all the buildings in that country that were of unhewn 
stone, and left the superior edifices we had seen in 
almost the same condition they are now found. 

In a few minutes after our intercourse commenced, the 
Emir, who had been observed to regard the European 
lady with much curiosity, arose from his seat, and re- 
quested her to accompany him to his harem, which invi- 
tation the lady readily accepted, and the two gentlemen 
were left to the care of the brother of the Emir, who 
did not, however, long favour us with his company, 
but proceeded to amuse himself with his fine horse, which 
stood richly caparisoned in the court. 

The time now passed very slowly with us, though we 
afterwards found it had been quite the reverse with the 
lady; and, in truth, had my case been that of her hus- 
band, I think I should not have been entirely withou 
jealousy during my lady's absence. There was, neverthe- 
less, no cause for any disquietude, and, when the ladj 
reappeared, we were much entertained with an account 



432 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND STRIA. 



of her treatment in the harem, which made amends for 
our different experience during her absence. It seemed 
that she was expected a few minutes before her arrival, 
and upon her entrance she was greeted with a shower of 
odoriferous flowers, while two of the ladies she met threw 
over her a splendid robe which entirely enveloped her 
person. Her situation, indeed, might have been highly 
amusing to a spectator, but must have been rather tedious 
to herself. She was surrounded by the ladies and their 
slaves in the harem, and presented with every luxury 
the land afforded, without being able to carry on any 
discourse save by signs and gestures little better than 
those which the uninstructed dumb employ in Europe ; 
yet the cheerful spirits with which she returned to us 
were a proof how much she had enjoyed her novel ex- 
perience. Thus, as soon as we had recovered the lady, 
we took leave of the stately Emir, mounted our steeds, 
and returned to the encampment with mixed feelings in 
which content prevailed. 

On the same day we called on the Maronite bishop of 
the district, from whom we met a very kind reception. 
We found the good priest seated upon a small mat in a 
wretched room with mud walls, and no article of furni- 
ture save the mat, and occupied with the tchebook, which 
is the chief enjoyment of the day, from the prince to the 
peasant, in the East. He begged us to seat ourselves 
upon his broad mat while he prepared us tchebooks and 
some coffee. We sat down, but as we perceived he had 
no servant, we contrived to excuse ourselves, without 
offence we trusted, from joining in either of these 
luxuries. 



433 



CHAPTEE LH. 

THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 

The Snow — The View from the Summit — First View of famous Grove of 
Cedars — Encamp among the Cedars — Monks. 

On the morning of the 11th of June we left the ruins of 
Balbec, and entered upon the wide plain which divides 
the anti-Lebanon from the higher range which we had 
already crossed at a lower elevation than that which we 
now approached. 

The plain was partially and indifferently cultivated, 
and we saw here no village, hamlet, or fixed habitation 
of any kind. Where cities should nourish, where Helio- 
polis did nourish, there still remains the natural source 
of riches and population, in the fertility of the soil, 
which only awaits the return of an enlightened govern- 
ment, and the just administration of equal laws, to clothe 
the fields again with the most profitable vegetation, and 
cover the plain with the habitations of men. 

Leaving this plain, we commenced the ascent of Le- 
banon proper, so full of associations springing from the 
historic notice of many events of which these mountains 
were the scene, and from the poetical figures so often 

drawn from them in the sacred writings. 

t_ 

During the first two hours, we were occupied in ascend- 
ing hills divided by shallow dales, and covered with the 
prickly oak. We then began to ascend the steepest moun- 
tain path we had seen, and during our ascent of this, we 



434 



TEAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



observed a lake at the distance of about two miles upon 
our left, which appeared to be between three and four 
miles in circumference. 

We reached the first patches of snow about three 
hours after noon, and found that the soil still produced 
herbage enough to sustain the hardy mountain goats, 
which we saw feeding in great numbers, unharmed 
by ' the tyrannous breathing of the North,' and divided 
into small parties by the plats of snow which filled the 
hollows and the spots most sheltered from the rays of 
the sun. 

Soon after this, we reached the elevation at which the 
ground was entirely covered with snow, which was for 
some time above the horses' knees ; but about two hours 
before the sun sank beneath the dark waters of the Medi- 
terranean Sea, we had reached the highest summit of this 
pass across the Lebanon, where we obtained at once the 
grand view which these mountains afford to the enraptured 
eye of the beholder. 

It is not the highest summits of the Alps that we ever 
pass over, and the continual turn of the roads there, 
rendered possible by the form of the hills, shuts out 
every view that could contest for the triumph in awe- 
inspiring magnificence with this finished pattern of 
great Nature's terrestrial labours. I do not, however, 
attempt to draw more than the outline of the picture, 
which the fancy of the reader will better complete, ac- 
cording to his or her greater or less practised eye in the 
survey of remarkable scenery, or the study of those natural 
objects which, by their effect upon the senses, elevate and 
refine our thoughts, while they fill us with intelligible 
impressions concerning the power and beneficence of the 
great Author of all we behold. 

When we attained this utmost altitude of the moun- 



THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 



435 



tains, the sky was clear above our heads, and the air was 
serene and cold. But while the elements about us were 
at perfect rest, clouds which lay upon the thicker air 
beneath, on the side to which we were to descend, did not 
indicate the same repose at the lower altitudes. 

As we commenced the gentle descent, we would gladly - 
have made all possible use of the assistance of our guides 
to point out every object that appeared over the vast 
country before us, even to the sea beyond the coasts 
of Syria ; but the clouds and the floating vapours which 
swept over the vales were drawn by the contrary currents 
of air into varying forms, which, by the force of illusion, 
confounded the earth with the sea, so that we were able 
only plainly to distinguish at intervals the nearer and 
more distant objects. At one time the dark sea in our 
front seemed like a mighty wall which rose from the 
coasts, up to far above the clouds, none of which floated 
so high as to interrupt the dark line which appeared to 
unite with the azure of the heavens at an inconceivable 
height above the earth ; and such was the illusion, that 
the sun, less than two hours before his setting, seemed to 
have returned to his place in the firmament when only 
half his day's course is run. 

A httle later than this, when we looked directly beneath 
us, we could distinguish the several grades of the moun- 
tains, each of which exhibited its distinct hills and dales, 
of richer and richer verdure in proportion to their dis- 
tance from the summit, till indications of towns or villages 
were indistinctly perceived. But upon the nearest step of 
the mountain beneath, the guides now pointed out to us 
the remnant of the ancient forests which once covered 
the fairer portions of the mountains, the well-known 
cedars of Lebanon, so famous in the Scriptures for 
having formed a portion of the materials of which the 

f r 2 



436 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



great temple at Jerusalem was constructed, and for the 
figures which they afford several of the sacred historians 
in the embellishment of the poetical portions of their 
writings. 

These famous cedars, which will call for some further 
remarks upon a nearer view, as we now saw them from the 
height over which we were passing, presented the appear- 
ance of a little plantation in the infancy of its growth ; but, 
having fixed our eyes upon objects of so much interest, we 
regarded no longer the views which lay beyond the rolling 
vapours, which were gathering thicker and thicker as we 
descended, until they interrupted our view of every more 
distant object, and cut off our hopes of seeing the bright orb 
of day sink beneath the grand wall of waters in the west. 

But the scene was only changing to one of different 
interest. The floating mists, which shut out the view of 
the earth and the waters, now presented a surface glad- 
dened by the oblique rays of the declining sun, which, 
mingling at the utmost bounds of the view with the 
more equal shades of the lower sky, seemed to present to 
the mind more the idea of infinite space than the plain, 
the sea, or any other view bounded by a visible horizon. 

We slowly descended into this ocean of moving vapours, 
until we lost the view of everything save the nearest ob- 
jects around us. But as we passed through the mists, a 
space opened to show us the peak of a precipitous rock 
on our right, which the mists magnified, and presented to 
our view almost perpendicularly above our heads, when 
they closed again, and we continued in the same ob- 
scurity as before. We next passed beneath a first section 
of vapours, which formed clouds that the rays of the sun 
penetrated at intervals, to fall upon the side of the moun- 
tain behind us, until the great orb fell below a thicker 
mass of the lower clouds which received him, without 



THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 



437 



leaving us the means of judging how much time might 
remain before he would terminate his day's course. We, 
however, reached the grove of cedars which we had seen 
from above before it was dark, and in the midst of these 
we pitched our tents for the night. 

The night was bitterly cold, but we issued from our 
tents at the first glimmerings of light the next day, and 
commenced a formal survey of the venerable and stately 
last remnant of the famous cedars of Lebanon. We en- 
gaged first in counting the numbers which the grove 
contained, which we found to be of all sizes, and in round 
numbers about three hundred. There are, however, 
only six of the trees which are very large, and appear to 
be of extreme age. The next to these in size, and indeed 
the majority, appeared to be in the vigour of middle 
age, and the rest are yet young. The majestic six, said 
to be coeval with those hewn at the command of the 
King of Tyre, and sent to Solomon to aid in the construc- 
tion of the grand temple at Jerusalem, must at least be 
of equal age with any living plant upon the earth. We 
took the circumference of the trunks of two of them, and 
found one to measure forty- two, and the other forty-five 
feet, without the nicety of pressing the line within the 
indents, or passing it over the more projecting enlarge- 
ments formed by the growth of the trees. 

We spent the whole morning in the grove, and the 
lady of our party took a sketch of the largest tree, which 
is a perfect copy of this patriarch of the vegetable world. 
But there were at this time threatenings of the destruc- 
tion of this remarkable grove. Some fanatical monks of 
the Lebanon had just built here a small chapel, and several 
of them dwelt within this, and their unhallowed axe was 
already at work upon some of the smaller trees, to pro- 
cure firewood. Some travellers also have excoriated the 



438 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



bark of some of the trees, and inscribed their names. 
Some one, indeed, has even inscribed the name of Bruce, 
when it is well known that that accomplished traveller 
was incapable of thus acting. 

As we were about to leave the grove, after the middle 
of the day, the monks came to beg money of us in aid of 
their arrangements for religious purposes ; but in reply 
to their demands, we preached to them repentance for the 
profanation of which they were guilty in touching a twig 
of the sacred grove in which they had taken up their 
residence, and we desired them to inform us what pos- 
sible good could be accomplished by the erection of a 
chapel in a situation so remote from the dwellings of 
their fellow-men. We were in hopes that what we said 
might at least have disconcerted them, but they had 
the merit of great patience and forbearance, and their 
only reply was to show the best humour possible, so 
that had our cause not seemed to us to have something 
sacred in its character, I know not whether we might not 
have felt the same self-reproaches which occurred to the 
author of the 4 Sentimental Journey ' during his inter- 
views with a monk, and have wished for a snuff-box to 
present for the same peaceful purpose. 

The opposite view of this antique grove which pre- 
sented itself to us as we descended towards the warmer 
region, enabled us to distinguish more exactly its situa- 
tion than we had been able to do on our approach. The 
hills rise on either side of the grove, forming, with the 
exception of the side towards the lower country, an en- 
closed platform, upon which the cedars nourish, with a 
hollow, or deep rocky dike around one side, and a gentler 
dale upon the other. Thus they seem to have been favour- 
ably situated for protection amidst the mountain storms 
from every direction save that of the south-west, and at 



THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS. 



439 



the same time to be defended from excessive dampness 
during the rainy season by the natural drains for the 
water from the ground upon which they stand. 

We now made our adieu to the interesting objects 
which had so much excited our interest, and proceeded on 
our descent of the mountain. 



440 



CHAPTEE LIII. 

DESCENT FEOM THE MOUNTAINS. 

Difficult Travelling — A Convent— Village of Eden— Invitation from the 
Governor of the District — The Palace — Visit from the Governor — Some 
Tricks of Boys— The Governor's Hospitality. 

We had hardly lost sight of the cedars of Lebanon, when 
a deep and broad ravine opened before us, presenting the 
country a degree lower in the mountains, quick with the 
green of natural vegetation, or broken into shapeless 
masses of barren rock. Our object now was to visit a 
convent built upon a platform about half-way down this 
ravine ; but as the guides informed us that the way we 
were to take was such as the loaded mules could not de- 
scend, we despatched them on a different road to Eden, 
and continued the descent ourselves, when we were soon 
confirmed in the truth of the reports ; for with the excep- 
tion of the En-gecli road near the Dead Sea, I had seen 
nothing like this. Nevertheless, as we descended, we 
found the country becoming highly fertile, and every 
patch of ground was covered with natural vegetation, of 
which the prickly oak prevailed, and torrents were rush- 
ing down precipices on all sides. But on our approach 
to the convent, we found a platform of cultivated land, 
and hedges of the stunted prickly oak, mixed with sweet- 
brier ; and after these we had the mulberry in full leaf 
until we reached the convent. 

While we were rejoicing at the view of the cultivation 



DESCENT FKOM THE MOUNTAINS. 



441 



which presented itself to our eyes, weary with contemplat- 
ing distant objects or rugged and sterile hills, and admir- 
ing the apparent avidity with which every patch of ground 
seemed to have been here seized upon to render it pro- 
ductive, the sound of the convent bell struck upon our 
ears, as the echo returning again and again from the oppo- 
site steeps of the rocky ravine seemed to proclaim the 
ever-living truths which no obstacle can silence, no 
tyranny stifle. The bell, indeed, is peculiarly Christian, 
and its sound upon the ear of the European traveller is 
here like that of his mother accent after some time passed 
in a foreign land, among strangers to his feelings and to 
his native tongue. 

When we arrived at the convent we found the doors 
closed, and we were some time before we could find any 
trace of its having inhabitants, although we were con- 
vinced that the bell which we had heard belonged thereto, 
for there could not be another convent in this vicinity. 
However, after we had knocked very loudly, a menial, of 
most ghastly appearance, obeyed our summons, and from 
him we learned that the good monks were all at work in 
their vineyards lower down the ravine, and that they had 
left the convent closed, which was their custom, without 
anticipating the arrival of travellers. The good man, how- 
ever, after inviting us to enter, contrived to find some 
wine, which he offered us, but which we did not think it 
proper to take at present, and as the chapel was separate 
from the convent we proceeded to visit this, while await- 
ing the arrival of the monks, whom the bell we had heard 
had already recalled from their labours. 

The chapel of this remote convent is a mere artificial 
cave hollowed out of the rock which rises perpendicularly 
from the ledge upon which the convent is placed. Its 
decorations were mean, and as it cannot have any light 



442 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



save by the door through which it is entered, it is obscure 
and gloomy, and did not tempt us to make a long stay 
within. 

We next spent a short time upon the terrace in front 
of the convent, the view from which commands within 
circumscribed limits one of the most romantic scenes in 
all that country ; but as we were fearful of not reaching 
Eclen that evening, and as there was yet no signs of the 
monks, we took leave of their good attendant, and set off 
without seeing them ; for although we were not burdened 
with our baggage, we heard that the way was still so bad 
that we should not be able to make any greater speed 
than we were accustomed to do when in company with 
the whole of our equipage. 

After some descent we reascended to higher lands, 
following the ledges and precipitous ways along the 
ravine. As we passed over this difficult way we obtained 
a view of Eden on the opposite side of the ravine, which 
had now become broader and more capable of culti- 
vation. 

This beautiful spot of the country affords one of the 
richest views in the Lebanon. A mountain rises imme- 
diately behind it to the altitude of perpetual sterility ; but 
as the eye gradually drops from its misty summit towards 
the altitudes of vegetation, the degrees of produce succeed 
each other, from the scanty herbage upon which goats 
browse, to the abundant productions of the dale of *Eden. 

We now continued our way down steep declivities, 
and we crossed an open space without making much 
ascent or descent, when we entered some rich groves of 
mulberry-trees, walnut-trees, and poplars, which from a 
short distance hide the village of Eden, the residence of 
the Prince, and governor of the country around him. 

We found our tents here pitched upon a plot of grass 



DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 



443 



immediately below the palace in which the governor was 
residing, which was situated upon the rugged heights 
above. A sort of gendarme was with an air of authority 
parading in front of our encampment when we arrived, 
and we learned from our servants that he had been sent 
by the Prince, as an assurance to the inhabitants of the 
place, that we were, under his protection. 

As soon as this instance of unaffected hospitality was 
named to us, Monsieur Malen and myself determined 
upon waiting on His Highness before partaking of the 
refreshments which had been prepared for our arrival ; 
and under the conduct of the gendarme, and attended by 
a single servant, we mounted a winding precipitous path 
which brought us to the romantic and pleasantly situated 
palace of the Prince of Eden. 

Our approach had been announced, and as we came 
upon level ground on the opposite side of the building 
from that which overhung the steeps, we were received 
by a guard of armed domestics with the Prince's son, a 
fine youth of about seventeen years of age, and superbly 
dressed, at their head. 

The young man, as we dismounted, advanced towards 
us, and with the graceful salaam of his country, in a clear 
accent of the French tongue, and with the extravagant 
compliments of the East, gave us a hearty welcome ; and 
the discovery that we should have an interpreter in His 
Highness's own family was almost as gratifying to us as the 
warm reception which we felt sure of receiving. Then we 
followed our polite aid, who led us through a court to a 
flight of steps, by which we ascended to a humble apart- 
ment, with rough plastered walls and a stone floor, with- 
out any furniture save a low divan upon one side of the 
room. 

As soon as we were here seated, the young man retired 



444 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



to announce formally our arrival to the Prince, while the 
men who had accompanied him took their position a little 
in advance of the door without, and we were left to reflect 
upon the position in which we found ourselves, and the 
advantages we might derive therefrom. 

But we had not long to speculate, for the Prince very 
soon arrived, followed by his son. He appeared to be a 
man of about fifty years of age, and had a countenance 
and air remarkably indicative of gravity and thoughtful- 
ness, and as he entered he made the accustomed salaam, 
and we rose and returned it. He then walked towards 
us with a slow and dignified, rather than formal air, and 
after bidding us to be again seated, he took his place upon 
the same divan, when a European chair, a novel piece of 
furniture in the East, was brought for his son, who seated 
himself opposite the party, and all the preludes to an ex- 
change of eastern and western thoughts seemed accom- 
plished. 

But the most striking feature of the scene to the eye of 
a European was the great contrast between the coarse and 
homely style of the apartment and the splendid habili- 
ments of all, except the Europeans, who were now assem- 
bled within it. But beyond this, the imagination might 
have formed a contrast between the elements of which 
our thoughts severally were composed, which might not 
have been unworthy of the study of another author of 
another c Conduct of the Understanding,' who might have 
here found fresh arguments concerning innate ideas. But I 
have only to report what was apparent to the senses, rather 
than pursue any nice speculations with no better guide 
than that of the imagination. Nevertheless it is desirable 
that the reader with the few hints which this account of 
our interview with a Prince of the Lebanon may afford, 
should supply by that facile means what could not be 



DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 



445 



reported without clanger, rather through forgetfulness 
than negligence, in making a report of what we gathered 
in conversation with this Prince. 

Our discourse commenced by an inquiry on the part of 
the Prince whether we had found the Lebanon equal to 
the high expectations we had doubtless conceived before 
we determined upon so long and painful a journey ; to 
which we were able sincerely to answer, that in its scenery, 
in its productions, and in the hospitality of its Christian 
inhabitants, and indeed in all that interested the western 
traveller, it had far exceeded the most sanguine expecta- 
tions we had formed. The subject then turned to the 
comparative degree of civilisation between the Mussulmans 
and Christians of the mountains, their relative force, and 
their claims to predominate. But this did not fail to bring 
forward the name and the sage government of the Emir 
Beshir, of whom I have had reason to speak so highly ; 
but as we had left the lady behind us, we now took leave 
of the Prince for the present, but not without giving a 
pressing invitation to the father and son, that they would 
take their coffee with us that evening at the encampment, 
to which the Prince consented. 

As soon as we had dined at our encampment our 
friends made their appearance, the Prince mounted upon 
a well-caparisoned Arabian steed, with his son on foot by 
his side, and attendants behind. We received them at 
the door of my companion's tent with as much show of 
ceremony as our equipage permitted, and we spent the 
remainder of that evening in general conversation con- 
cerning the difference between European customs and 
habits and those of the East. 

Our noble visitors retired early, but they did not quit 
the tent before the Prince had exacted from us a promise 
to visit him on the following clay. 



446 



TKAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



After our visitors left, a little derangement took place 
in our encampment, which would hardly have demanded 
notice had our visit to Eden been attended with incidents 
that seemed of importance. We had had a crowd about 
our tents the whole time they had been pitched, and as 
there were no Turkish soldiers among them, the curious 
multitude were not under the same restraint as the people 
of Deir el Gamman. The women sat upon or stood within 
a fence of twenty or thirty paces from the tents, while 
the men and children were so curiously importunate, that 
had it not been for the aid of the guard that had been 
sent to us by the Prince on our arrival, our tents would 
positively have been swept away by the multitude, or we 
should have been forced against our inclination to have 
shown more anger than would have seemed a just return 
for their good feelings towards us. 

Soon after the night set in, however, the people dis- 
persed ; but, as often happens in the greater affairs of the 
world, when we have effectually got rid of some plague, 
we are upon the eve of discovering fresh and stronger 
motives to murmur, or of experiencing some new trouble 
which we would gladly exchange for our former subject 
of complaint. We had, indeed, before anticipated no 
more than the breaking a few of the cords of the tents. 
But while we were engaged with our tchebooks at my 
companion's tent, before parting for the night, some mis- 
chievous Arab boys, tempted by the favourable oppor- 
tunity for sport in the position of our encampment, put 
us in expectation of being regularly swamped. Our tents 
had been pitched immediately below a flood-gate for 
turning off the waters which flowed through an aqueduct 
along the hill between the rock upon which the palace 
stood and our encampment below, to irrigate the fields 
near the village when desirable. The rogues opened this 



DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 



447 



gate to overflow us, but as there were no lives put in 
danger, any one who knew our position in the village, 
and remembered the acts of his own youth, could hardly 
have blamed them an hour after the offence, which was 
not the occasion of much loss. 

But the opening of the gate was soon known at the 
palace, and the Prince's son was immediately despatched 
with hands to assist and secure us, and with an express 
invitation for us to take up our quarters at the palace 
until the inconvenience was remedied ; but in reality our 
troubles were confined to having a few things drenched, 
and to the trouble of removing the tents, and we declined 
the polite offer of the Prince. 

In the morning, very early, the Prince's son came to 
inform us that the perpetrators of the offence of the even- 
ing had been taken and confined, and that the Prince 
only waited to know our wishes, in order to have them 
punished to the full extent that should please us ; for 
this strange method of justice is the frequent custom in 
Syria as well as .in Egypt. We thought, however, that 
their imprisonment had been quite enough, and we sent 
word to beg that they might not be subjected to any 
further penalties, and our wishes were complied with. 

On the morning after this little instance of want of 
good manners on the part of the youths of Eden, we 
took properly a second breakfast rather than dinner with 
the Prince and his son. The lady, who had not been of 
the party on the previous day, now accompanied us ; and 
after the ceremony of our reception, which was the same 
as that of the preceding day, she was conducted by the 
Prince himself directly to the harem, which, I need not 
say, was not that of a Mussulman, and the gentlemen 
were shown into the same room in which we had been 



448 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



entertained on the preceding day, where the Prince soon 
again joined us. 

Half an hour now passed in general conversation, after 
which we were led to the banqueting apartment, where 
we found the lady of our party just arrived, after passing 
the same time among the ladies within, and full of spirits 
from the manner in which she had been welcomed. 

We were now placed, to our surprise, upon benches 
on the side of an ample table of a long-square form, 
furnished with dishes, plates, knives and forks, quite in 
the European style. The young man took the head of 
the table, and his father placed himself at one of the 
sides. The dishes were numerous, and everything was 
well cooked in the French style. Eice was served in 
three ways, so disguised that it was impossible to suppose 
that several of these dishes were of that grain, and there 
was roast mutton quite equal to any I had ever before 
tasted, and wine of the country of superior quality. 

Our conversation now turned chiefly upon the differ- 
ence in the manner of living among the Arabs and the 
Europeans, from which we gathered that the present 
entertainment was not in accord with their usual manner 
of living, although they had made a trial of it since 
Ibrahim Pasha was in the Lebanon. 

We were not long over our meal, and the conversation 
generally that passed while Ave were at table was not 
such as to make a lasting impression on my memory. 
But before we took our leave we made an attempt to 
obtain the company of the young gentleman to Beyrout, 
but the Prince was fearful that matters were not then 
sufficiently tranquil throughout the Lebanon to admit of 
his son's passing safely through the lower country, and 
this obliged him to decline our offer. 

The young man had been taught the French language 



DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 



449 



by a French priest who had resided some time in one of 
the mountain convents, but he had scarcely had any other 
intercourse with any Europeans. But what he had 
learned from the very few books which he had seen had 
excited a desire for knowledge, which, it was melancholy 
to anticipate, might in a short space of time yield to the 
gross accomplishments of a morbid Arab chief. 

We now took leave of the hospitable and worthy Prince 
of Eden and his son, and proceeded again to descend the 
mountains, with the intention of reaching Tripoli that 
day. 



G G 



i 



450 



CHAPTEE LIV. 

JOURNEY TO BEYEOUT. 

The Condition of the Country — Tripoli — Remains of an Ancient Town — 
Armed Parties — Views — Conclusion. 

The first part of our day's journey, after leaving Eden, 
was along the right side of the wide ravine which we had 
been passing during the greater part of the preceding 
day, until an opening presented us with a nearer view of 
the same magnificent landscape which the distance and 
the state of the atmosphere had rendered so indistinct on 
the day on which we crossed the high summits of the 
Lebanon. The broad and undulating space, spread out 
between the mountains and the sea, is here varied by the 
motley shades of a partially tilled and productive country ; 
yet little can be distinguished to indicate the existence of 
the population which inhabit it, even to Tripoli, which 
was shut out from our view by a hill too insignificant to 
be perceived from the higher elevations ; but there soon 
appeared habitations standing upon a point of land which 
stretches out into the sea to the distance of about a league 
from that city. 

As we descended into the lower country, we found the 
first step below the cultivated country at Eden producing 
little more than the prickly oak, but on the second step 
there were wild pines, among which were a few cedars. 
But the next fair cultivation that presented itself exhi- 



JOURNEY TO BEYKOUT. 



451 



bitecl the luxuriant mulberry, of which there are here 
specimens of enormous growth. 

From this beginning of general cultivation we found 
the land improving, and the labour of man keeping pace 
with the bounty of the soil. The roads, too, were now 
so much improved that we rode at full gallop for some 
miles through this fertile and well-cultivated district. 

Our guides knew but little of the country beyond our 
view, but some peasants that we met at Torata, the 
richest spot that we passed, informed us that the same 
fruitfulness abounded for miles on either side beneath us, 
and we found the land, with intervals of less fertility, 
maintain this general character, until we came to the 
brow of the hill which overlooks the ancient Mussulman 
town of Tripoli. 

This city is seen under great advantages from this hill. 
An ancient castle, now falling to ruin, stands upon rising 
ground on the opposite side of a rapid stream which was 
before us, pouring down the intervening valley to dis- 
appear among the edifices and the minarets which rise 
from abundant mosques in the city. From this we de- 
scended by a winding path which led to a gate at the 
lower part of the town, through which we passed into 
the principal street, and thence through an open bazaar, 
till we reached the upper gate, where we pitched our 
tents in a mulberry grove without the town. 

Tripoli is a miniature Damascus, and has little within 
it to afford interest to the tourist, save that which is seen 
to more advantage in its sister city in its unmixed, purely 
Oriental character. 

After a day and a half's stay, we left the mulberry 
grove at an early hour on our road to Beyrout. We 
soon came upon the sea-shore, whence we again ascended 
the first of a series of steep and rocky hills, which con- 

G G 2 



452 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



tinned to be the character of the road, from which we 
had sometimes a view of the sea, until we arrived after 
sunset upon the ruins of an ancient town, where we 
pitched our tents without the walls, which were still 
remaining, and in front of the ruins of a castle by which 
the town had been defended upon the inner side. 

We passed within the walls of this town in the morn- 
ing, in order to make such observations as the time per- 
mitted, but we found no more than a few streets of 
wretched hovels formed from the fragments of other 
edifices. The castle seemed to be the only remains of its 
ancient buildings, and this has fallen into an almost too 
dilapidated a condition to contain any habitable apart- 
ments. We mounted to its higher chambers, from which 
there was a fine open view on every side, and from which 
the remains of the town beneath are seen, composed of 
mean dwellings amidst heaps of rubbish, among which a 
solitary palm .is to be seen shading a hovel, that the 
lowest grade of humanity could hardly seem born to 
inhabit. Some of the stones on the outside wall of the 
castle were no less than sixteen feet in length and six in 
depth. 

The part of the road which we next travelled lay some- 
times upon the sea-shore and as often along the slopes of 
the hills, after which we passed a range of higher granite 
mounts, generally terraced and planted with mulberry- 
trees, beneath the branches of which the ripe wheat and 
barley bent their full ears to the breeze from the sea, 
while at intervals there were waste spaces covered with 
the hollyander and the hollyhock, the former of which 
grew in abundance upon narrow alluvial spots formed by 
the rivulets that were to be heard trilling over their 
pebbled beds, as we crossed the rude bridges that passed 
over them. 



JOURNEY TO BEYROUT. 



453 



As we proceeded we met several armed parties of from 
ten to twenty men, who were in a state of insurrection 
against the Turkish authorities. They appeared to be 
well armed, but we did not attempt to hold any inter- 
course with them. 

We reached the mouth of the river JSTahr-el-Kelb 
early in the afternoon, when we passed the stream with- 
out dismounting, and proceeded to examine some re- 
markable inscriptions, which appear to have escaped the 
hand of human spoliation and the effects of time, to be 
the imperishable monuments of the victories of Sesostris 
and Cambyses. 

There are two highways upon the slope of the granite 
hill which runs along the left bank of the river, and, 
stretching into the sea, forms one side of the entrance. 
The earliest constructed of these roads is above that now 
travelled ; but this improvement of the way was made 
during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, as appears 
from an inscription on a tablet upon the rock, now some- 
what obscure from the growth of moss and the gathering 
of dust, rather than from the waste of the stone, but 
which has been copied by Maundrel and several later 
travellers. 

The upper and more ancient way is considerably above 
the Eoman road, and has several tablets hewn upon the 
rock which forms a wall on the side of the hill, upon 
which appear the indelible and more remarkable sculp- 
tures of the Egyptians and the Persians commemorating 
the actions of the two conquerors, one of which was from 
the East and the other from the West. The style of the 
one and the other nation to which these heroes belonged 
could not be mistrusted, nor the history they depict 
easily mistaken. One of those of Egyptian workmanship 
represents two figures engraven after the manner of the 



454 



TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 



representations of the Egyptian warriors within the tombs 
and upon the walls of the palace at Thebes, while two of 
the tablets, which represent the Persians, are executed 
in bas-relief, and have the figures habited in the costume 
of that people, little differing from that which is found 
to be worn by their descendants at the present day. 

The whole of the least impaired of the tablets of the 
Eastern conqueror has been covered with Persian cha- 
racters, a few of which are still legible ; ' but there are no 
hieroglyphics upon the Egyptian tablets. Thus the tra- 
veller may here sit and contemplate, within the confined 
space that the eye compasses, the record of the existence 
of three empires, whose histories form so large' a portion 
of the transactions of the human race, with the remark- 
able evidence of the truth of the grand features of the 
history of the earlier ages of the world. 

As we were to arrive at Beyrout this evening, we sent 
forward our mules, and ascended into the upper country 
to obtain a distinct review of a grand ravine by which we 
were passing, which, in the magnificence of its scenery, 
we found equal any other view that in our long wandering 
we had seen. Peaks, crags, precipices, water falling 
over cliffs, or gushing from dark caverns so far now be- 
neath us that their sounds scarce reached our ears, while 
the scene was softened by the abundance and variety of 
natural vegetation crowding every step of the rock, and 
overhanging every crag. 

After so much has been said of the difficulties of the 
mountain paths which we had from time to time tra- 
velled, it seems proper to make a remark upon the in- 
comparable temper and astonishing force of the Arabian 
horse. The superb creature which we have painted in 
our mind's eye from an early age cannot be excelled in 
any undertaking in which a traveller may desire to employ 



J0UBNEY TO BEYBOUT. 



455 



him ; for the horses with which we performed every 
journey confirmed our impressions of the spirit of the 
noble animal, and his adaptation to the labours in which 
he is employed by travellers, as well as for man's other 
pursuits and enjoyments. We had no sooner, indeed, 
reached the strand after our descent from this, our last 
course in the mountains, than the patient animals that 
had been engaged nearly the whole of the day with great 
difficulties, without a morsel of food, now raised their 
heads from the painful position which the usual roads of 
the country render necessary, and all with one accord 
broke into a full gallop, and for the rest of the journey 
required the restraint of the curb to keep them within the 
bounds of a pleasurable pace. 

We arrived at Beyrout before the sun set, and a few 
days after this I embarked for Europe. 



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